Help Wanted – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry
by mmooch
Summary: **For the 2014 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge. After the war ends, Hogwarts gets a makeover…and a lot of new teachers. Includes other fandoms as crossovers, too.
1. Ch 1: Aug 1 – Headmistress Buffy

"**Help Wanted" – Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry**

Summary: **For the 2014 LiveJournal's Twisted Shorts FaD** challenge. After the war ends, Hogwarts gets a makeover…and a _lot_ of new teachers.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: set a few years after Sunnydale (consider everything past season 4 as AU) for BtVS; starts with the fateful Halloween when the Potters were killed (and goes AU from there) for HP…the years are shifted forward to match up.

Warning: certainly some craziness and stuff but the Wizarding World seemed to be written with a very small amount of common sense so this shouldn't be too strange.

A/N: While all of these chapters are related, I'm hoping to make them work as standalones (kind of).

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

**Chapter 1: August 1, 2014 – Headmistress Buffy**

**Hogwarts**

Buffy's mind was racing a mile a minute as she wondered how the hell she ended up in this position. How had a simple Halloween patrol in a tiny village land her the job of Headmistress for a school of magic? She didn't even _do _magic herself, for crying out loud!

Well, Willow and Tara were trying to teach her a few Wiccan spells, but she certainly didn't know enough to teach anyone else – especially since wand magic seemed to work differently than Earth magic. She thought about it for a few seconds and then decided that since she was administration, her lack of talent wasn't necessarily an issue. Her focus was on the overall school, not the classes…apart from making sure she had good instructors.

That's why she was grateful for the training Robin gave her since he arrived in Sunnydale several years ago. Granted, a school on a Hellmouth had different challenges than a normal school, but maybe some of those challenges would show up in a magic school. She hoped there wouldn't be too many Hellmouthy issues here, though.

Speaking of principals – in a roundabout way – why the heck was it taking so long to get to her new office? Shouldn't it be near the front of the school so she could be more accessible to staff, students and parents? If it was possible, she'd be making that one of her first changes.

As her journey continued, she thought back to the night Dumbledore died, she killed a baddie and found herself in charge of a school as thanks for ending a war.

It was so strange…she was just patrolling with the gang and they came across a couple guys attacking a house with magic.

When they started fighting the pair, Dumbledore showed up right at the unfortunate moment that Voldemort – the head baddie as they were told later – threw a killing curse at Willow or Tara. During Voldemort's gloating about defeating Dumbledore, Buffy took the opportunity to use the Scythe to behead him.

The freaky moment came afterwards when a misty sort of spirit thing came out of the guy's body and tried to zoom away. Working on her reflexes, Buffy took another swipe with the Scythe and cut the spirit thing in half, waking up the village when it screamed horribly as it died.

Luckily, the people who lived in the house were all fine. A little frightened by the attack, but thrilled beyond words that Voldemort was dead. The way they were glaring at the second man – Peter Pettigrew – had the Scoobies wondering if there would be a third death that night.

Before that could happen, some magical policemen – Aurors – showed up because Dumbledore's phoenix flashed into the office of the Head of the DMLE and signaled for him to bring some backup to Godric's Hollow.

By the end of the night there was an emergency meeting of the Wizengamot to discuss Voldemort's defeat and Dumbledore's death. Somebody suggested that the victors against You-Know-Who should be given Dumbledore's positions…or at least the ones in Magical Britain. The ICW would have to make their own choice about that position.

The neutral purebloods accepted the proposal only because these 'muggles' clearly were more than ordinary muggles. At least two of them could perform wandless magic and the woman who killed You-Know-Who wielded a magical artifact as powerful as the legendary Excalibur. Plus, she was the Slayer…whatever that was. It apparently meant something to the muggles and they weren't about to argue with somebody who was able to beat You-Know-Who.

At first the Sunnydale survivors were going to just walk away from the insanity, but then Dawn pointed out that if they weren't there to keep an eye on things, another Voldie guy would just pop up and cause trouble later. Between that and Giles' obsessive desire to learn more about a world that lived side-by-side with the Council without the Council's knowledge had them changing their minds.

The selection committee for the Wizengamot spoke to all of them and decided that Willow would be the best fit for Chief Witch and Buffy should be the Headmistress of Hogwarts. They would also recommend to the ICW that they should consider either Tara or Giles for Supreme Mugwump…or at least a membership in the Confederation.

It was totally ridiculous to choose Dumbledore's successors that way, but apparently it was considered normal to the Wizengamot. That made the Scoobies shudder in fear a little.

"Chocolate Frogs," McGonagall said, breaking Buffy out of her musings.

To Buffy's amazement, the gargoyle in front of them began twisting around, causing a stairway to appear. Totally cool, but kind of impractical, wasn't it? "What about chocolate frogs?" she asked the stern woman walking ahead of her.

"That was Albus' final password for his office," McGonagall replied curtly. It wasn't that she was angry at the young woman, but she was upset by her mentor's death. She only hoped that Miss Summers would prove to be an acceptable replacement Headmistress.

"You need a password to see the Headmaster?" Buffy asked in surprise. "Isn't that a little inconvenient?"

McGonagall paused inside the office door for a moment as she considered the question. How many times had she been annoyed by the various passwords over the years? "Perhaps," she allowed.

Buffy found a couch and went to sit down, motioning McGonagall to sit as well so they could talk. "How are the students and staff doing?" she inquired with genuine concern.

"It is a mixture of shock and excitement," McGonagall answered. "One moment, they are grief-stricken at the Headmaster's death, the next they remember that the Dark Lord is also gone, so they want to cheer."

"As dorky as it might sound, are they talking to grief counselors?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Grief counselor? What is a grief counselor?"

Buffy figured – hoped – that it was a cultural thing; that they called it something else here. "That's a counselor that specializes in talking to people after a tragedy. They usually come to schools after somebody dies – especially if it was a violent death like Headmaster Dumbledore's." At the last second, she remembered to add the man's title as a sign of respect. That was a piece of advice from Robin. "Does your school counselor have any training in that area?"

"We do not have a counselor here at Hogwarts," Minerva said. It would have been a good thing during the last few years, however, with all the deaths from the war.

"Wow! Umm, okay…well, I think that's a good place to start then. I'll see about getting some people in to talk to the kids – as well as staff members who want to talk about things. For other changes, I think I just want to leave things as they are for the time being and just make some notes about issues that concern me…if there are any. Just one question, though: do you know how much wiggle room I have in making changes? For example, if I wanted to move my office closer to the front doors and get a secretary instead of a password-protected gargoyle, could I do that?" Buffy asked.

McGonagall's face pinched at the idea of changes being made to the school, but was grateful the young lady wasn't planning to do it overnight. Hopefully she would listen to reason before she destroyed any traditions of Hogwarts. "As Headmistress, you can request structural changes be made to the castle. If those changes are not contrary to the Founders' vision, the changes will be taken care of by the house elves."

"Alright then," Buffy nodded with a relieved smile. "Can I meet one of these house elves? It might be easier to have them take me on a tour so you can get back to teaching or your paperwork or whatever you'd normally be doing right now. If I have any questions, I'll write them down for us to talk about later."

"As you wish," McGonagall replied, confused when Miss Summers smiled even more at her answer. She had never seen _'The Princess Bride'_ so she wouldn't understand the pop culture reference. To make matters worse, the house elf she called for was named, "Buttercup!"

Buffy coughed to cover her chuckle.

A quick introduction to the house elf and Professor McGonagall made her way to the staff lounge to discuss her first impression of the new Headmistress with her fellow co-workers.

As for Buffy, the longer the tour went on, the more overwhelmed she felt at the task ahead of her. Hogwarts needed some serious updating!

* * *

Tomorrow…Originally I was planning on doing the Deputy Headmaster/mistress, but then the point about counselor(s) made me realize that was the more urgent need for Hogwarts. If you have any suggestions for this or other teachers/support staff, drop me a line.


	2. Ch 2: Aug 2 – Counselors Evans & Bellows

**Chapter 2: August 2, 2014 – Counselors **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: set a few years after Sunnydale (with some AU-ness) and the fateful Halloween when the Potters were killed…the years are shifted forward to match up. DoOL timeline – set in 2009 when Marlena and John left Salem. IDoJ timeline – post-series.

A/N: There's a failed interview at the end that I don't want to spoil with a disclaimer or tag.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. DoOL characters belong to Ted and Betty Corday, Corday Productions and Sony Pictures Television. IDoJ characters belong to Sidney Sheldon, Sidney Sheldon Productions and Screen Jems Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Salem (Not sure which state)**

Settling down in her chair, Buffy asked, "So all these possible counselors have experience with the weird?"

"They should; that's what the spell specified. We should get people who won't freak out horribly when we tell them about magic and demons," Tara explained. The spell couldn't be too specific about why, but as long as they got the result they wanted, that was enough.

Given the fact that this town had a distinct Sunnydale vibe to it – in that there were a lot of unexplainable things going on here – Buffy could see that…as long as the doc wasn't in denial or anything. "Alright, who's first?" she wondered aloud.

Tara took out the top folder and slid a copy over to Buffy. It was on the thicker side and just included basic background stuff like marriages and former jobs. "Dr. Marlena Evans-Black. She's used to be a practicing psychiatrist at Salem University Hospital."

Skimming the folder, Buffy opined, "Okay, I just hope she can deal with stressful situations without being too judgmental."

A few minutes later, Marlena entered the conference room. Part of her wondered why she was even considering a job interview, but she just knew that she needed to get John away from Salem. As much as she loved her hometown, they needed to get him treated in Switzerland for his paralysis, and after that, it would be nice to settle down someplace where she and/or John wouldn't be kidnapped twice a year by some nutcase.

Plus it would be nice to get back to her counseling roots. If she could help kids in the process, all the better. The only information she got about the job was that it was a boarding school in Scotland whose Headmaster was just murdered by a terrorist. When the incoming Headmistress found out the school didn't have grief counselors, she began a search for some.

Once the pleasantries were taken care of, Buffy jumped right in by asking, "So, Dr. Evans – or is it Evans-Black?"

Marlena considered that for a second, then decided that if she was going to be working with students, the non-hyphenated name 'Evans' might feel more approachable. "Evans will be fine," she replied with a smile.

"Good," Buffy answered with her own smile. "So what's the strangest thing you've ever had to deal with – either as a doctor or in your own life? I'm not asking for anything that would violate doctor/patient confidentiality or anything…I just need to know you can handle unusual situations."

Marlena almost laughed at that. What should she say? "Well, my twin sister once kidnapped me so she could assume my identity."

"That sucks, but it isn't really _weird_," Buffy replied.

Feeling a little mischievous, Marlena went for the big gun in her armory next. "I was possessed once," she said in an offhand manner.

Buffy and Tara shared an impressed look. "Really? Ghost, spirit, demon?" Buffy inquired.

Bemused by their response – Why weren't they freaked out? – Marlena shook her head and said, "Satan."

"Huh," Buffy muttered; that was unusual. "Something to research, maybe?" she added softly to Tara, who nodded in agreement. "Okay then, so it won't shock you to learn that magic is real and that vampires and demons exist, right? We need trained professionals who know about the supernatural – and who aren't nutjobs themselves – to help at a school of magic. These students are in particular need for good counselors because they just survived a war that kind of spilled over into their school a little."

"Are you serious?" Marlena demanded.

Sometime later, Marlena agreed to work for Hogwarts when she learned that they could heal John even faster than that clinic in Switzerland. Who knew that being possessed by Satan would serve as a job reference?

What she didn't know was that Buffy and Tara planned to make sure there wasn't any leftover spirit still in her. That and find out if it truly was Satan or just some demon/ghost trying to freak her out by claiming to be the 'Big Guy'.

* * *

**Cape Kennedy, Florida**

Buffy was a little disappointed when Col. Dr. Alfred Bellows, Ret. didn't know that he knew about the supernatural. He had always had suspicions of odd occurrences around Major Nelson, but hadn't learned the truth – at least not to his knowledge.

It wasn't a total loss, however. The man looked relieved to find out there _was_ a logical explanation for everything, even if the parameters of his life had to be expanded to include a new kind of logic. Too bad his beloved Amanda passed away before she could find out the truth with him. "That's how he kept doing it to me," Alfred muttered to himself. "It _had_ to be magic of some kind!"

He looked at the two disappointed women and asked, "When do you need me there?"

"You want to come even though you've never heard of magic before?" Tara asked in bewilderment.

"For years it was a significant part of my life and I just didn't have a name for it. Believe me, I'm thrilled to find out magic is real! I'm good at treating war-related psychological problems and as for the magic part, I'm willing to learn," Alfred told them.

* * *

**Gotham City (whatever state that's in)**

After the hallucinogenic wore off, Buffy growled at Dr. Jonathan Crane. "Trying to mess with me by showing me my worst nightmares was a mistake, doctor. A _big_ mistake!"

Frightened by the predatory way she was stalking towards him, Crane slipped fully into his Scarecrow persona by donning his mask and pulling out his scythe to threaten her. "I'll slice you in half with my scythe!" he screamed.

He peed himself when she snorted and paraphrased Crocodile Dundee with, "That's not a scythe…That's a Scythe!" she said, holding out her hand for the Slayer weapon to appear out of thin air. Actually, it was an illusion that Willow and Tara worked up so she could carry the Scythe with her in public without freaking people out.

She used the handle to knock him unconscious, then delivered him to the nearest precinct. As she was walking away, she heard some cops say, "Since when does the Bat bring them _to_ us?"

* * *

A/N: I don't own the Batman character Dr. Jonathan Crane either.

Tomorrow…Security, I think.


	3. Ch 3: Aug 3 – Security Hagrid & Worf

**Chapter 3: August 3, 2014 – Security**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

New Timelines: vague for Hellboy, but modernish times; season 4 for ST:DS9

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Hellboy characters belong to Dark Horse Comics and Mike Mignola. Star Trek character belongs to Gene Roddenberry, CBS and Paramount Pictures. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Newark, NJ**

"Why was there a separate group for the Initiative if this place existed?" Xander asked as they announced themselves to the BPRD.

Buffy tried and failed to resist the urge to rub her eye after the retina scan to confirm her identity. "I'm going with bureaucracy at its finest. Since both are highly secret organizations, they each thought they were the only one of their kind. Plus the BPRD includes agents that the Initiative wouldn't feel comfortable working side-by-side with."

Xander stared at Buffy for a second as he figured out what she was saying. "Are you saying that Hellboy is actually a demon?" he demanded.

"Probably," Buffy replied. "But I'm hoping that he would still make a good addition to the security force. At first it didn't seem bad, but the children of the Death Eaters keep finding ways to attack other students without leaving any proof. We need to tighten security."

They were led to a small conference room where they waited for Hellboy and his team to arrive. When the group finally walked in, it didn't come as a big shock that some of them were obviously nonhuman. In particular Hellboy really did look like the stereotypical demon, except for his horns were sawed off.

More off-putting than his appearance, however, was the fact that he was carrying a beer can in to the meeting. Buffy knew she was teased about being a hard ass at times, but this seemed like something that even Faith would be annoyed by. "Do you need beer to survive?" she asked, hoping there was a reasonable explanation for it.

"Nah, I just like it," Hellboy replied with a shrug.

"Okay," Buffy murmured before moving on to her next question. It didn't take long for her to realize that he wouldn't work as a security guard; he was far too intimidating for a boarding school. She did leave her card so they could open the channel for future conversations in case they could help each other with an apocalypse.

As they were walking out, Xander said, "You think we need to have them tweak the location spell?"

"At least he wasn't evil," she answered.

* * *

**Hogwarts**

Part of Buffy wished that Faith wasn't busy on the Hellmouth so that she could head up security, but then she realized that instead of stopping the minor offenses like making out in broom closets, Faith would encourage it. With that in mind, she asked Hagrid to come to her office. "Hagrid, would you mind being in charge of security for the time being? Your natural resistance to spells makes you an ideal candidate. When we find somebody a bit more intimidating - because, let's face it, you're a big old teddy bear most of the time - I'd like you to continue as the liaison to the students. I want somebody who is approachable and when I find the right head of security, he or she shouldn't fit that bill."

Hagrid paused for a moment then asked, "Will I still be able to care for my animals? I don't want to give up my animals," he told her emphatically.

"That would be acceptable," she replied. "I just have one more question: are you unable to use magic?"

Hagrid explained how he had been expelled in his third year, but that he wasn't guilty of any students' death. Buffy promised to investigate the issue if only to insure that it wouldn't happen again.

* * *

**Forbidden Forest**

It was several weeks later when Buffy was patrolling the forest. She wanted a good idea of the land surrounding the school, and part of that knowing what was in the forest. So far she had run into some unicorns and centaurs, the latter of which gave her a headache with their prophetic talking. On the other hand, the school had a Divination class whose teacher was kind of a drunken hack, so maybe convincing one of the centaurs to help out would be a good idea. What was Dumbledore thinking when he hired Trelawney?

The area she was going towards today included the Acromantula colony – which she was _not_ looking forward to finding. But she needed to mark off the boundary to keep the giant spiders away from the rest of the forest's inhabitants. Then she'd work out a deal with Hagrid to send food into that area. They could pay for the food with the silk that Hagrid would harvest from the spiders.

Unfortunately, she went a little too far and found herself surrounded by the beasts. Either these ones weren't sentient like Hagrid's pet, Aragog, or they didn't care about humans. She pulled out her Scythe and started thinning them out a little, but could see that without help, she could end up seriously hurt or worse.

Just as one of the pony-sized creatures was about to attack her from behind, a man jumped from the trees on top of it and used a sharpened rock to stab it in the brain area. Buffy waited until the fight was over with before she studied her savior. He looked like a black vampire in game face – except for his ridges were more pronounced.

"That is a beautiful weapon," he growled in appreciation.

"Uh, thanks," she answered hesitantly. "And thanks for saving my life before. You aren't going to try to kill me now, are you?"

He seemed confused by the question. "That would be neither wise nor honorable since you have shown no hostility towards me."

"You are a strange vampire," Buffy quipped.

"I am not a vampire. I am Worf, son of Mogh, from the Klingon Empire," he introduced himself with a slight nod of the head.

"I don't think I've heard of the Klingon Empire before," Buffy admitted. "I'm Buffy Summers, daughter of Hank and Joyce Summers, from the state of California, in the country of the United States of America."

Worf looked around again to make sure there were no more giant spiders coming their way. "What planet is this?" he asked.

"Earth. Are you saying you're from a different planet?" she asked incredulously. Aliens – other than the Queller demon – were a new thing for her.

"I was raised on Earth by humans, but my ancestors come from the planet, Qo'noS. This does not look like the Earth I know. What year is this?" he inquired politely. He was: in the past/future, on another planet called 'Earth' or on a different dimension's Earth. Any of the three possibilities seemed equally likely given that his ship was destroyed in a wormhole when he was carrying a newly discovered element that was unstable.

"It's 2009," Buffy told him. "So what's the deal? Alternate timeline, time travel or are you just messing with me?"

He seemed bemused by her easy acceptance of his appearance. Everything he had been led to believe about this time in Earth's history said that she should have run screaming from his presence. Then again, he didn't recall any mention of giant spiders in Earth's history either.

Then he remembered that he needed to prepare the spiders' corpses for eating later. They would make a fine Klingon delicacy. "I need to clean these before the venom seeps into the meat," he said, pointing to the spiders.

She looked disgusted by the prospect. "You're going to eat them? Why don't you come back to the castle for something a little less gross."

"They are a fine, spicy food," Worf objected. "However, it would be nice to find out more about this place I have landed in."

"Cool, and maybe if we get along and you promise not to kill me or my friends, I might have a job offer for you until you figure out how to get home," Buffy said, thinking that he was intimidating without being crude. Or at least that was her first impression of him. Time would tell if that impression was correct or not.

* * *

A/N: Had to stop because I was running out of time. Sorry about that.

Tomorrow…Let's say Deputy Headmaster/mistress. I know which one it will be but maybe you can change my mind.


	4. Ch 4: Aug 4 - Deputy Headmaster Cole

**Chapter 4: August 4, 2014 – Deputy Headmaster**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Charmed Timeline: at the end of _'Siren Song'_ once Cole realizes he can't win Phoebe back (but change the airdate to late November instead)

A/N: This may hinder my ability to bring in the Sisters later on.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Charmed characters belong to Constance M. Burge and the WB. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Hogwarts**

McGonagall's lips pinched into a tight line. "May I ask _why_ you are taking the position of Deputy Headmistress from me? Have you found me lacking in some way?"

"It's a conflict of interest…kind of. My preference is that all employees only have one job they are responsible for. Exceptions could be made if you wanted to sponsor a school club for advanced Transfiguration or something, but can you honestly tell me that your different roles have never conflicted with each other? Especially your Head of House and the Deputy Headmistress positions?" Buffy asked in a reasonable tone of voice.

"What do you mean?" McGonagall demanded, feeling insulted by the implied insult.

"The way I understand it, as Deputy Headmistress, you are mainly in charge of discipline, right? But as Head of House, you are supposed to be an advocate for the students of Gryffindor. Same goes for your role as a teacher; there are times when it conflicts with your other two roles. Not to mention how exhausting it must be to have all three jobs," Buffy added offhandedly.

She paused for a moment, then said, "If you'd prefer, I can give you the choice of which job you want to keep, but I'll tell you right now that if you don't stay a teacher, I'd be shocked. I've watched your classes and you have such a passion for the subject that you keep the students engaged no matter the lesson is for the day."

Resigned to the idea that she would have to give up two of her jobs, McGonagall made a request, "May I think about it and let you know by this weekend?"

"That's fine."

* * *

That evening, Minerva called her co-Head of Houses to her quarters to discuss this new, troubling development.

"I, for one, welcome the change," Pomona announced once Minerva repeated what Buffy told her.

"Really?" Minerva asked in surprise.

"But that could be because I have the greenhouses to keep me busy when I don't have classes," Pomona admitted. "Don't get me wrong, I love being Head of Hufflepuff, but it gets rather tiring fairly early in the year. Sometimes I feel like I might be addicted to Pepper-Up potion."

"You, too? I thought it was just me!" Filius squeaked.

Shocked at their attitudes, Minerva asked, "So you don't feel insulted by her splitting up our duties like this?"

Pomona shrugged, then answered, "We have to remember that she is from another country and wasn't raised in the magical world. No doubt she has seen different methods for running a school and like most people, is more comfortable with the methods she knows. And to have to time to sponsor a Herbology club? That would be wonderful!"

Minerva got a thoughtful look on her face when she considered the upside to having more personal time. "It would be nice to be able to leave the Castle once in a while, I suppose. What about you, Severus?" she asked the remaining member of their group who had been silent until this point.

Knowing how precarious his position at the school was, Severus asked, "Has she said anything about dismissing current staff entirely?"

"Not to me," Minerva told him. She also hadn't been told there _wouldn't_ be any dismissals either.

"I fear that without Dumbledore here to fight for me, my feelings on the matter are moot," Severus answered quietly.

"Maybe you should speak to her; convince her that you are the right person for the job. She's young enough that she wouldn't hold your youth against you like some might." His surly personality, on the other hand…was a sentiment that Minerva didn't speak out loud.

* * *

**San Francisco**

Buffy knew from her Slayer dream that she only had a small window to find the guy she could make her Deputy Headmaster. Thank goodness Professor McGonagall agreed to give up the position in favor of staying the Transfiguration teacher…and temporarily stay on as Gryffindor's Head of House until that position could be filled – preferably by a guy/girl team.

Back to her prospective interviewee, though. If she didn't convince him to leave San Francisco right away, he would continue to obsess over his ex-wife until it drove him to use his demonic powers for evil again. At that point, he would be basically unstoppable because the powers would take over completely. But right now, she had a chance to strip the powers away and just leave the guy who wanted to be good.

She and Willow exited the elevator into the living room of a _very_ nice apartment. "Doesn't it seem strange that there isn't a door for us to knock on?" she asked Willow.

Willow shrugged. "Maybe the security guard downstairs got approval to put us on the elevator that leads directly into the apartment?"

"Can I help you, ladies?" a rich baritone voice asked from the next room.

They turned to look at him and gave a little sigh of lust. He was so sexy in that gorgeous suit! He smiled in amusement at their reaction, then repeated his question, "Can I help you, ladies?"

"Uh-huh," Buffy murmured absently before catching herself and shaking the cobwebs loose. "Actually, we have an offer and a proposal for you…a _job_ proposal! We have a _job_ proposal for you."

Still amused, he motioned for them to take a seat, then asked, "What is the offer, first of all?"

Sharing a look between them that contained a conversation, Willow finally explained, "Well, to jump right into things, we know that you have demonic powers that you are having trouble controlling, so our offer is to help get those powers out of you. The catch is that you would basically revert to your original form – which we understand was half-demon/half-human?"

Cole's eyes narrowed in suspicion. The Sisters wouldn't send somebody else to deal with him, so these ladies might be demons in human form. "Who are you?"

"I'm The Slayer – at least one of them – and Willow's one of the witches that is part of my team," Buffy replied.

"The Slayer? And you aren't trying to kill me already?" Cole asked in surprise. As The Source of All Evil, he knew who the Slayer was but since past attempts to control her failed miserably, the underworld had an unspoken rule to leave her alone and for upper-level demons to avoid the areas she was sighted in. "How would you accomplish this task?"

Since it was Willow's area, Buffy let her handle the explanation. "It's a variation on a Soul Restoration Spell that I've done in the past a couple times. Basically we would take all the souls out of your body that don't belong and just leave the one that does: Cole Turner/Belthazor. Then we banish the orbs of the other souls to the demon afterlife place."

"Sounds simple enough. What's in it for you?" Cole asked, not sure it would be as simple as they were making it seem.

Sure enough, the next words out of Willow's mouth were, "It isn't simple. You can't fight it, even though the souls in you will want to, and I'll probably need help from some other witches who are able to cast the spell."

Buffy interjected, "As for what's in it for us, we're able to remove a possible threat without bloodshed and other bad stuff. You might not be our area of responsibility, but I got the dream about you for a reason. As an added bonus, I think you might be a good fit for a job that I need filled at a magic school in Scotland."

"Hogwarts?"

"You've heard about it?" Buffy asked in surprise.

"As the Source, I had really good intel about the supernatural world," Cole explained. "What happened to Albus Dumbledore? I thought he was the Headmaster there."

"He died a couple weeks ago and I inherited the job because I killed the dark lord that killed him," Buffy explained.

"Voldemort," Cole clarified. "That guy was a loser by bad guy standards. Just a bully in a crowd of cowards. So what do you want me to do?"

"I need a Deputy Headmaster. The spell that we used to make a short list of possibles came up with your name, even after we tweaked it again. You're smart enough to hand the work, charming enough – I'm guessing – to handle the parents and teachers, and with your history, you're intimidating enough to scare the hell out of the kids."

Cole thought about Phoebe and trying to make things work with her after they stripped his powers – it didn't sound as if them helping him out was contingent on him accepting the job – but then he remembered the look in her eyes when he saw her after their close call with the Siren. Despite her love for him, she was done trying to make it work. For both their sakes, he needed to move on with his life. Maybe going to Scotland was a good place to start.

* * *

A/N: Yeah, only one interview but one is all they needed.

Tomorrow…Minion- er, Secretary (sorry, Executive Administrative Assistant).


	5. Ch 5: Aug 5 - Admin Assistant Walter

**Chapter 5: August 5, 2014 – Admin Assistant**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Three's Company character belongs to NRW Productions and T.T.C. Productions, Inc. Will and Grace character belongs to David Kohan, Max Mutchnick and NBC. Iron Man characters belong to Marvel Comics. Doctor Who characters belong to Sydney Newman, C. E. Webber, Donald Wilson and the BBC. James Bond characters belong to Ian Fleming. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel.I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Harmony Kendall**

How drunk was she when she agreed to do this? This had to be Angel's way of getting back at her for sending him to hell. It just had to be.

"…And I've gotten _much_ better at not biting people to get my blood!" Harmony rambled. "The last time was over six months ago! That's good, right?"

Buffy smiled in a way that had Harmony inching back a little. In the past that kind of evil smile meant that Buffy was just seconds away from beating somebody up and since Harmony didn't have the best history with her, chances were that she was the one to get hit soon.

Before she could make a run for it, though, Buffy said, "You know what, Harmony…as impressive as that is, I think that your talents are more suited to a law firm. You're just too…sophisticated to work in a school. But send my thanks to Angel for suggesting you."

* * *

**Chrissy Snow**

"Is believing in magic necessary for the job because I've never seen magic before, but I haven't ever _not_ seen magic before so it's possible that it's real and I didn't know about it or it's possible that it isn't real and this is joke and if it's a joke then I don't understand but I've been told jokes before that I haven't understood before so maybe magic is a joke and it's real…see?" Chrissy finished in just under two breaths.

"Uhh, not really," Buffy answered, her head starting to pound as she attempted to unravel that run-on sentence of gibberish. At least when Willow did her thing, Buffy got most of what she was saying.

* * *

**Karen Walker**

"Honey, what's with the drafty castle? Couldn't you afford a real school?" Karen asked before sitting down and pouring herself a drink from a flask she took out of her purse. When it only filled halfway, she pointed at Xander and said, "Poodles, be a dear and get me a bottle from my other purse."

Turning back to Buffy, she continued, "It's so nice that you have your very own gay boytoy. Aren't they a hoot?"

"Xander's not gay," Buffy answered at the same time Xander protested, "I'm not gay!"

"Well, obviously you aren't Jack's version of fabulous-gay; you're more of Will's boring pretending-to-be-straight-gay," Karen remarked offhandedly. "So are three hour lunches the norm here? Oh, and I can't come in before 10 am…and I need to leave by 2:30pm."

"Thank you for coming in…we'll let you know," Buffy said, grabbing her bottle of aspirin and sucking down a handful with some butterbeer.

* * *

**Pepper Potts**

Buffy was finally breathing a sigh of relief. Pepper Potts was a godsend! If anything, Buffy wasn't sure she was good enough to be _Pepper's_ boss. And then it happened…

"Pepper, what are you doing here? You didn't say anything about coming to Scotland. Do you know how long it took for me to find you? The…magic…of this place was messing with my suit so I had to walk here from the local village. Do you know how annoying that is?"

Buffy might have been excited to see Iron Man aka Tony Stark in person except that he was interrupting her interview with the best secretary she had ever met in her entire life…and appeared to be convincing her to leave with him! Dammit!

* * *

**Donna Noble**

Learning from her last mistake, Buffy insured that the prospective employee wasn't already working for a superhero or billionaire. Ms. Noble was actually a temp, so that made Buffy hopeful. She didn't freak out when she learned magic was real…even better.

Buffy was just about to offer her the job when a strange whirring sound began and a blue police box appeared in the room. A man stepped out – a real cutie – and started babbling about fixed points and other sciencey stuff that went _way_ over her head. Then he held a hand out to Donna and asked her to go with him.

For the next five minutes, Buffy proved she listened to Spike and Giles and learned all the cuss words they ever uttered in her presence.

* * *

**Ms. Moneypenny**

Buffy only talked to Ms. Moneypenny for two minutes before she gave a resigned sigh and leaned back in her chair to wait for the inevitable. Somebody this great was sure to be snatched back by her previous employer.

"I'm sorry for the ruse," a serious man said upon entering the room. "I thought an informal meeting would be preferable than attempting to coordinate something through the Watchers' Council. They may have loosened up a bit in the past few years, but they still tend to think of you as their possession. Quite frankly, I'm surprised they are fine with your current positon here."

Ms. Moneypenny took care of the introductions, "Buffy Summers, this is my employer, M. He is the head of MI6."

While she was disappointed that she didn't stand a vampire's chance in sunlight of luring Ms. Moneypenny away from MI6, it was kind of cool to make a backdoor connection to the organization for assistance if the Council ever decided to get all stupid on her again.

* * *

**Walter Harriman**

"Before I fall in love with your skills and stuff, I've got to start by asking why you left your last position?" Buffy started her last interview of the day.

"To be honest, there was a military drawdown and I was one of the unlucky ones who was 'encouraged' to retire early from the Air Force," former Senior Master Sergeant Walter Harriman explained. "I was supposed to be promoted to Chief Master Sergeant, but they decided that they didn't need another one at this time."

"Well, that's…stupid of them," Buffy replied. "But awesome for me! Your letters of recommendation from Generals Hammond and O'Neill are just…well, 'glowing' isn't a strong enough word. They claim you are the real-life equivalent of Radar O'Reilly."

"That's nice to hear, ma'am," Walter said humbly.

"Oh no! We can't have that! I can't handle ma'am!" Buffy cried, unconsciously touching her hair.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Summers," Walter apologized. "It's a regular response in the service, but I will try not to say it to you again."

She beamed at him…and at the world for allowing her to get a fantastic Administrative Assistant like this man!

* * *

A/N: Fun little fact that I learned when writing this out. Ralph Fiennes (Voldemort) also played M in Skyfall.

Tomorrow…Potionmaster


	6. Ch 6: Aug 6 - Potions Master Snape

**Chapter 6: August 6, 2014 – Potions Master **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

A/N: Gonna use a recent hire to help with a new hire (or new-ish).

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Charmed characters belong to Constance M. Burge and the WB. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Buffy's office**

Putting down the employee file she had on Snape – after adding yet another complaint about his behavior in the classroom – Buffy sighed heavily. "I've got to do something about that man! Why did Dumbledore hire him in the first place? Did he never see him around students? And to put him in charge of a whole dorm! I mean, house! What could he possibly have been thinking?"

Cole finished his coffee, then said, "He was protecting Severus…and giving him a second chance." He paused for a moment before deciding that full disclosure was necessary. Plus Severus never said it was private. In fact, Cole got the distinct impression that Severus came to him instead of Buffy because he was easier to approach due to his dark background.

"Severus was a Death Eater. He didn't go on raids and didn't have the usual initiation rite that the others had. Voldemort said that Severus was exempt from those things because his role as Potions Master was too important to risk on getting caught on a raid or damaging his nerve endings unnecessarily. In addition, he used Severus to gather information."

"Okay, so he's not as evil as the other Death Eaters. That still doesn't explain why he's teaching here at the school," Buffy pointed out.

"That's where it gets a little tragic for Severus. He was trying to spy on Dumbledore one day when he overhead a prophecy about somebody who could destroy the Dark Lord. He only heard part of the prophecy, though, before being discovered and chased off. He told Voldemort the part that he heard, then found out who was going to be targeted because of the information he passed along," Cole explained.

"Ugh, I hate prophecies!" Buffy muttered. "So who was targeted?"

"The only person in the world that Severus loved…Lily Potter. While he despises James with his whole being, he still loves Lily. She was his best friend for most of their childhood; the one ray of sunshine in his otherwise gloomy life. Although they weren't friends anymore, he still couldn't stand the idea of her being killed, so he went to Dumbledore and begged him to find a way to save her. He wouldn't have begged for his own life, but he'd beg for hers."

Buffy thought about that for a moment and was shocked to find herself feeling sympathetic towards the man. "And Dumbledore's response?"

"If Severus would act as a spy for Dumbledore in Voldemort's camp, Dumbledore would do everything in his power to protect Lily. He did some research and came up with the Fidelius Charm to hide them and bought the cottage they stayed in through some third party so it wouldn't be tracked back to the Potter family. It would have worked if they hadn't accidentally picked a Death Eater as their Secret Keeper. They used Slughorn's retirement as a ruse to bring Severus into the school so he could keep Dumbledore updated on Voldemort's plans."

"How was he able to convince Voldemort?" Buffy asked.

"He told Voldemort that Dumbledore approached him about teaching Potions after Slughorn retired – as well as becoming Head of House of Slytherin – and let Voldemort come up with the idea of Severus accepting so he could spy on Dumbledore," Cole told her.

Buffy nodded in admiration. "Sounds very Slytherin of him – or at least what Slytherin is supposed to stand for and not just a house of future evil wizards. By the way, I think we need to change that so we don't push them into becoming evil," she added as a sidenote. "It's not that I'm against second chances or anything…"

"The fact I'm here is a testament to that," Cole interjected.

She smiled at him, then continued, "But he really shouldn't be around students! Does he even _like_ teaching?"

"That's a fair point," he conceded. "How about this idea? He is an excellent Potions Master, and the school could certainly use one. Why don't we created a position for him and make that his only responsibility? If he makes more potions than the school can use, we can sell them and split the proceeds between the school and Severus."

"But that's not a job that he has to be living in the school for," Buffy argued. "We need a legitimate reason for him having a school-related job. Ooo, what if we have him take on an apprentice? Call it university-level potions – or whatever the magical equivalent of that would be."

"That would work. But we'd have to find a student that could put up with his level of biting wit if we wanted this to last longer than a day," Cole said.

Buffy started giggling somewhat manically. "I've got the perfect girl! Dawn wants to learn more about this style of magic, and her middle name should be 'snark'. Luckily for Sna- Severus, she's also really smart. If they don't kill each other in the first week, they could make a formidable team of Potionmasters."

* * *

**Potions lab**

**A couple days later…**

Snape felt conflicted. On the one hand, he was grateful to still have a job at Hogwarts – and to make matters better, he didn't have to deal with students on a day-to-day basis. On the other hand, he had to put up with this she-devil – and worse, he was responsible for teaching her the fine art of potion-making.

At least with the students, he could make them shake in fear of his insults and glares. All she did was break out into giggles and call him adorable or cute…like he was a puppy!

"Hey, Mister Broodypants! Did I cut these right?" Dawn asked, tilting her cutting board for him to inspect.

He really, _really_ wanted to find fault in her work, but she prepared the herbs perfectly. Curse her! "They're acceptable," he answered curtly. Maybe he'd have to re-think going to Azkaban for a couple years.

* * *

A/N: Just because Snape has the right job for him doesn't mean he'll become a nice person overnight.

Tomorrow…Guess we'll have to find somebody to take over Potions and/or Head of House for the Slytherins.


	7. Ch 7: Aug 7 - Potions Professor Zelda

**Chapter 7: August 7, 2014 – Potions **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: Season 3 of Breaking Bad; season 7 of Sabrina the Teenage Witch

Warning: It might come off a little anti-Charmed Ones, but just remember where everyone's emotions are during this time. I really wasn't planning for it to go that way when I started writing the scene.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Charmed characters belong to Constance M. Burge and the WB. Breaking Bad character belongs to Vince Gilligan, High Bridge Entertainment, Gran Via Productions and Sony Pictures Television. Sabrina, the Teenage Witch character belongs to Nell Scovell and Viacom Productions. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Hogwarts**

Buffy had a really good feeling about this woman. She knew how to make potions; she was really friendly; and she was a hero! How great was this?! The only down side was that she had to live in San Francisco with her sisters, but that could be solved with a floo connection to their home.

But something else was nagging at Buffy in the back of her mind. Something it seemed like she was forgetting. Oh! Maybe it was the time difference!

There was a knock on her door and Cole stuck his head in. "Sorry to bother you during your interview, but we have a small crisis down in the kitchen that needs your immediate attention."

"That's alright," Buffy answered with a smile. "While you're here, I'd like to introduce you to the new Professor of Potions…"

"Piper," Cole finished in a flat tone. "Good to see you again," he said with forced politeness.

"You have Cole working here?" Piper demanded. "Are you insane?! How can you have him around the future of magic?"

"Oh, crap! _That's_ what I was forgetting! I knew the name Halliwell sounded familiar," Buffy muttered softly. This is what she deserved for not letting Cole know about the interviewees. "Well, I'm going out on a limb and guessing that you won't take the job now; not with Cole being the Deputy Headmaster of the school."

"What?!" Piper shouted. "Leo! Get your ass here, now!"

"If it makes you feel any better, all those new powers of his are gone. He's back to being his old self again – except for being evil, that is," Buffy attempted to reassure her.

Leo orbed in and asked, "What's wrong?" He looked around and absently greeted Cole, "Hey, Cole. Did something happen during your interview, Piper?"

Piper glared at him, pointed towards Cole and snapped, "I saw a demon! And he's second-in-charge of the school!"

Finally remembering how the family felt the last time they saw Cole, Leo turned to his ex-brother-in-law and asked, "What are you doing here, Cole?"

"He's getting his second chance," Buffy answered for him, starting to feel defensive on his behalf.

"This isn't his second chance!" Piper yelled. "It's like his tenth!"

Crossing her arms and giving her own glare, Buffy snarked, "And how many have you gotten? I get that you and your sisters are these great hero-types, but I also know how many times hero-types screw up royally and need a second, third, fourth, and so on chance. If he needed that many chances, maybe it was because he was with the wrong people.

"He has been a miracle-worker here – and before you get all self-righteous and judgmental, he hasn't used any powers to do his miracles…unless one of those powers happens to be charisma, listening and general brilliance. What we expected to take several years to turn around, we now expect to be done by the next school year, and that's thanks to Cole!"

Buffy paused to take a breath and calm herself down. Giles would be so disappointed that she flew off the handle like this again, but she just had an emotional flashback and snapped. "I get that you're angry and you have every right to be skeptical, but he's here and he's going to stay. I'm sorry that this didn't work out because you would rock as a teacher. Please feel free to contact us if you ever need help saving the world," she said, handing a business card to Leo as she steered them towards the door.

When she came back in the room, Cole smiled and thanked her, "That was very nice of you. It's been a long time since somebody stood up for me."

* * *

**Albuquerque, New Mexico**

While she waited to hear back from some other potential potions professors, Buffy decided to check out some chemistry teachers. After all, potions and chemistry were pretty close, right? Potions was just a little quirkier.

For some unknown reason – but probably just to annoy Angel – Spike wanted to come with her on this trip to the States. While she couldn't convince him to wear a nice suit, he at least took off the nail polish and only used about one-fourth the amount of hair gel he normally used. He actually looked semi-respectable – even in his trench coat and bleach-blond hair. "Who's the bloke we're meeting today?" he asked.

"His name is Walter White, and he used to be a chemistry teacher at the high school until they suspended him. Willow found out that he was basically screwed by his former business partner and girlfriend. He was recently diagnosed with cancer, plus his son has cerebral palsy. I mean, he's a walking advertisement for when bad things happen to good people!" Buffy said, tearing up a little at how sad this guy's life was.

Spike sat quietly as Buffy interviewed the man, studying the man and trying to figure out what was bothering him.

"Does your associate have any questions for me?" Walter asked. He was hoping that this job opportunity could get him out of the drug business for good without any further bloodshed.

"William?" Buffy prompted Spike, using his human to appear more professional to others.

"How's the cancer treatment going?" Spike asked, finally getting at least part of it figured out. This guy wasn't sick…at least not at the moment.

"I still have my bad days, but I'm hopeful," Walter lied, assuming that at least part of the reason they were here was because they felt sorry for him. In the past, he would have been too proud for that, but he was so desperate to get out of Albuquerque, that he'd tell them anything they wanted to hear.

"Good to hear," Spike said with a nod. As they shook hands goodbye, he looked into Walter's eyes and found what he was searching for.

Back in their adjoining hotel rooms, Spike shook his head and told Buffy what he learned. "Pet, the wanker isn't sick and he knows it. To make matters worse, he's making drugs – meth if I had to guess."

"Are you sure?" she asked, dreading the answer.

Spike tapped his nose a couple times. "Can't lie to a vampire. He might be able to mask the smell to other humans, but not to a vampire. I'd bet my coat that he just came from his lab for the interview."

"Damn!" Buffy cursed. "I was really hoping to help the guy. Think we should turn him in?"

"Got no proof; just the word of a vampire who can smell it on him," Spike reminded her.

* * *

**Other Realm**

Okay, this place was different.

When Buffy pictured a separate realm for witches, she didn't expect it to look like the inside of a cotton ball.

"You aren't a witch! What are you doing in the Other Realm?" a man demanded. "State your name, age and request!"

"I'm Buffy Summers, none of your business, and I'm looking for a potions professor for Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. One of my contacts suggested coming here."

"You're rude…I like that in a mortal," he replied. "Go knock on that door and tell Zelda that I sent you."

"Okay, and you are?" Buffy asked.

"Drell, the Head of the Witches Council. Or at least I was until those ungrateful upstarts got rid of me."

'_**Great, another Council!'**_ Buffy thought. "Thanks for your help."

When she knocked on the blue door he pointed at, a little girl answered it. "Is your mom at home?" Buffy asked.

"I hope she's there and not here!" the girl exclaimed. "That woman drives me up the wall! Can I help you?"

"I'm looking for Zelda; some guy named Drell sent me here," Buffy said, feeling the desire to reach for her aspirin bottle suddenly.

"Oh, I'm Zelda," the girl replied.

Grumbling about how unfair life was, Buffy said, "Great, I need a potions professor and get sent to a kid."

"I lost my adult years in order to save my niece's life," Zelda explained. "I'd love to hear about this job you have. Potions are my passion, along with physics and chemistry! Come check out my labtop!" she demanded, pulling Buffy into the room.

An hour later, Buffy walked back out, stunned that she just hired a pre-teen for the job. Unfortunately, as much as she wanted to regret it, she honestly felt Zelda would make a great teacher…despite the age thing. She certainly knew her stuff and was able to get Buffy excited about trying a potion. After Sna- Severus – eventually she'd get used to calling him by his first name – a little excitement would be a good thing, especially when coupled with the firm, disciplinarian nature Zelda possessed.

* * *

A/N: Again, I knew that I wouldn't use Piper, but I'm stunned that it went so badly.

Tomorrow…Not sure, I'll sleep on it.


	8. Ch 8: Aug 8 - HoM Professor Adam

**Chapter 8: August 8, 2014 – History of Magic **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: vague for Highlander, but after Methos met Macleod.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Highlander characters belong to Davis-Panzer Productions. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**London**

Buffy really felt like smacking some Wizarding heads together. Granted, the Muggle world had its fair share of bigotry, too, but it annoyed her there as well. In this case, she couldn't hire a teacher who had the highest NEWT score in over a century because he happened to be a werewolf.

Their logic boggled her mind.

They were fine with accepting a professor – who happened to be in the same class as the one she wanted – that had ties to their current enemy in a civil war. Really close ties. Their argument was twofold: Dumbledore vouched for Snape and with it being a civil war, everyone had close ties to the enemy, regardless which side of the war they were on.

It made a little bit of sense, but not their reason for rejecting Remus Lupin. There were no known attacks by him resulting in injury, infection or death; he took care to ensure that wouldn't happen by locking himself up during the full moon; and with the recent discovery of Wolfsbane, he would be even safer during that night. And that wasn't including her hope of getting a hold of Oz to find out where he was trained to stop his transformations.

Willow was going crazy, trying to figure out why werewolves here only turned on the actual night of the full moon while Oz used to change three nights. The best guesses they could come up with for the moment were that it was a different strain of the virus or possibly that being magical before getting infected altered the effects of the virus.

Back to Buffy's current dilemma, the best she could talk them into was allowing her to hire Lupin as an associate professor. She still needed a full professor to be in charge of the class.

A scuffle from a nearby alleyway caught her attention, causing her to smile. She really hoped it was a vampire because she had some venting to do.

Sadly it was two guys fighting with…swords? Kinda strange, but she had seen stranger. Before she could get to them, the one whose back was to her shot the other guy. He starting gloating…to himself since he obviously didn't hear her approaching him. Either that or the other guy's corpse, and that raised the level of weird.

When he raised the sword to behead the corpse, Buffy finally had enough. She grabbed a piece of rebar from the ground and thunked him good – hard enough to knock him out, but not so hard as to kill him. She bound his hands, then went to check on the victim to see if there was anything she could do for him.

She ripped open his shirt to look at the damage and knew that anything she tried would be futile. Having stabbed as many vampires as she had over the years, she knew where the human heart was and that entry wound was right over it.

Then the most extraordinary thing of the night happened: she watched as the bullet reversed itself and popped out of his body. Then the hole in his chest healed over without leaving a scar. She quickly disarmed him and retreated to a safe distance to wait for him to wake up – as she was sure he would now.

Not giving him time to catch his bearings, Buffy started her interrogation as soon as his eyes fluttered open, "You aren't a vampire, so what are you?"

"What happened to the other man that was here?" he asked as he rubbed his eyes and glanced down at his chest. As soon as he saw the muzzle flash, he figured he wouldn't be waking up again. The Highlander wasn't in the country to save his sorry arse this time.

She pointed to the other side of the alley with his sword. "He's resting for now. Time for you to answer my question."

"Depends…is it just vampires you know about or do you know more about the world?" he continued to delay her.

"As the Slayer, I know more than most," Buffy replied, hoping to scare him by giving her supernatural alias.

He took a closer look at her and quipped, "A little long in the tooth for that job, aren't you? You look like you could be the mother of a Slayer, not one yourself."

She glared at him, but kept her distance. It was possible he was trying to goad her into attacking so he could overpower her, but she wasn't going to fall for it. "You really think it's a good idea to annoy me? After all, I do have a few weapons on me. Plus I could beat the crap out of you if you really pissed me off."

"It was worth a shot," he said. "Have you heard of Immortals? I'd guess not since we aren't demonic and don't fall into your jurisdiction," he answered his own question.

"What's an Immortal?" she asked. The other guy started to stir, so she walked over and conked him out again. "Continue," she prompted him.

"We start out as regular human beings until our first death – usually a nice and violent one – and then we regenerate; come back to life like a phoenix…without the flames and turning back into a youngster. We always remain the age that we were at our first death."

"Is he one?" Buffy inquired, gesturing towards the unconscious man.

"He is," the man said. "He was trying to kill me to take my Quickening. It's a thing between us Immortals. The only way we can die. By the way, my name is Adam Pierson, Miss Summers."

Her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "How do you know my name?"

"I have a few contacts in your community," he replied casually. "Born in California; Called in Los Angeles; defeated several Master-level vampires; saved the world just as many times; and probably have slayed hundreds of vampires and demons over the course of your 13 or 14 year career?"

"Try thousands and you're probably closer," Buffy said. "What's your deal, Adam Pierson?"

"I happen to be the oldest known Immortal in existence, so a lot of people want my Quickening," Adam explained, knowing it was better to be upfront with her; another thing he had heard was that she _hated_ cryptic people.

"But you're a good guy?" she asked.

"I wouldn't go that far. In the past I've been pretty evil. In fact, I've probably been more evil than anyone you've ever faced before. I was one of the Four Horsemen," he told her candidly.

"Which one?"

"Death."

Her sudden smile scared him like very few things could anymore. "But you aren't evil anymore, right?" Buffy persisted. When she had been told 'Death was her gift' all those years ago, she didn't think it would be in response to needing a professor.

"I try to stay out of the way these days," he warily responded. What did she want to do with him?

"Good. Perfect answer!" she chirped, coming over to help him stand up. "I've got a proposition for you that will help keep you out of trouble."

"And what might that be?" Adam asked, finding himself oddly charmed by her upbeat attitude.

"I need a teacher of history, and I'm guessing that since you're so old, you've seen quite a bit of it firsthand," she said, leading him to nod in reply. "Cool! You teach history and you'll get free room and board at Hogwarts, plus a nice salary. Anyone coming to look for you will have me and some other fighters to get through first," she finished her offer with another smile.

"Given Hogwarts' location, they couldn't demand a fight with me anyway. As a convergence of ley lines, it's considered a holy place, and therefore no fighting can be done between Immortals," he remarked. "But I accept anyway. It's been a long time since I taught in a school and it can be quite…interesting."

"Just remember, I'll tell you what I told the former Source of All Evil…you go evil again, and you're dead meat. Got it?" Buffy asked in that same perky voice. "By the way, you'll have a nice werewolf as your assistant if he accepts the position."

"Understood," he agreed. "Wait…the _Source_?"

* * *

A/N: Sorry for not having a lot of Remus in the chapter, but I liked having it mostly be Buffy/Methos.

Tomorrow…I think maybe Languages would be nice.


	9. Ch 9: Aug 9 - Languages Prof Jon & Jason

**Chapter 9: August 9, 2014 – Languages**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: a couple years after 'Fragile Balance' for SG1; post-Trilogy for Bourne.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. Jason Bourne belongs to Robert Ludlum, The Kennedy/Marshall Company and Relativity Media. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Colorado Springs**

It was cool that Walter felt comfortable enough at the castle to suggest a possible teacher to Buffy, but she still had her doubts. _She_ still felt too young most days, and this guy was barely out of high school! And that was only because he had tested out a year early.

But according to Walter, there were some issues that would keep the guy from getting the job he would love. He'd tell her as soon as her security clearance for that issue came through; apparently it took direct approval from the President and a special committee in Congress. And they were waiting to see if he accepted her job offer before making their decision.

"Can I at least know why he knows an ancient variation of Latin?" she asked her assistant as they drove to Jon O'Neill's apartment. "You have to admit that it's unusual for a regular high school student."

"Special project required him to learn," Walter said in an attempt to pacify her.

All he did was make her more concerned, though. "Not my kind of special project, right/"

"No," he assured her truthfully.

Several minutes later, they parked the car and walked up to his apartment. Walter had come with her to assure Jon that the job offer was legitimate and that Command was okay with him doing it if he wanted to. Buffy knocked and Walter couldn't stop himself when Jon opened the door. "Hello, sir. Can we come in?"

Both Jon and Buffy raised an eyebrow, but for different reasons. For Jon, it was the fact that somebody from his old life had showed up on his doorstep. For Buffy, it was the way Walter addressed the young boy – it was the way he addressed a superior officer (or in the case of the school, the senior staff members).

Jon waved them in. "What can I do for you?" he asked.

"First of all, I'd like to introduce you to Buffy Summers, sir. Ms. Summers, this is Jonathan O'Neill," Walter said, fighting the urge to give Jon his former military rank or nickname. After they shook hands, he added, "I would like you to consider her offer. We could use somebody with your skills." With that, he handed over the letter of introduction he got which basically said they weren't crazy or the NID.

Quickly skimming the letter, Jon asked, "What's the offer?"

"I've recently taken over as Headmistress of a specialized boarding school in Scotland. Several of us decided that having at least basic knowledge of Latin would be very useful. To do that, we need somebody who can teach it to our younger students. Walter said that several years ago, you needed to learn it."

"Why not Daniel?" Jon asked Walter.

"To be honest, sir, he still has his work on the mountain," Walter answered. "You don't seem happy trying to find your place in this world, so I thought maybe you'd like to try a different one."

"Different world? I thought you said this was in Scotland." Jon's mind started racing with ideas…wrong ideas.

"That's my cue," Buffy answered. "Walter assures me that you can keep a secret of this magnitude, so I'll tell you right out. There's another world going on here on Earth. There's the natural world that everyone knows about and a supernatural one that is not as well known – apart from fiction books and movies…which are sometimes based on true events. Take Dracula, for example. Real vampire, but a bit of a poser."

Jon glanced at Walter, who nodded in agreement. "It's true," Walter told him. "The school she runs is a school for magic children."

"Uh-huh," Jon murmured in disbelief.

They spent a half hour explaining about the school and his job. When he didn't give them an answer right away, Buffy left him a booklet with more details along with contact information should he decide to take the job.

* * *

**Hogsmeade**

Buffy was having fun at Honeydukes. She'd say she was like a child in a candy store, but that just made her feel stupid. She was just about to take a closer look at the salt water taffy when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

"Ms. Summers, can I speak to you in private?" a rather intense young man asked. He kind of reminded her of Riley, but in a more James Bond-y kind of way.

"Umm, sure. Why don't we go over to the Hog's Head?" she offered as she activated the magical GPS that Tara and Willow created for the group in case of kidnapping or whatever.

Once they were settled in a private room, he started by explaining who he was – Jason Bourne – and that he wanted to apply for the position of professor of foreign languages. "I speak French, German, Spanish, Russian, Mandarin and Cantonese. Not all fluently, but enough so that I can teach it to others," he told her.

"Alright, that's great, but why do you seem so skittish to me? Who or what are you hiding from?" she asked.

Then he gave her his history with Treadstone and the CIA and said that he was concerned that as long as they thought he was alive, they'd keep trying to come after him. Since he couldn't leave the planet, he had to leave the known part of the world and hide in the magical part.

"I need to do some checking; make sure you aren't evil or anything," Buffy hedged.

"The CIA doesn't even want to acknowledge my existence," Jason warned her.

"I have special contacts that don't depend on official channels. Is there a way for me to get a hold of you or do you just want to make plans to meet again in a few days?"

"I'll be at this number for the next 72 hours," he said reluctantly. Obviously, he didn't like being tied down to a certain place for that long.

* * *

**Hogwarts**

By the end of the week, Buffy had two new professors. Her contacts verified enough of Jason's story to assure her that he was a risk worth taking. And Jon decided that he would like the chance to get out from Jack's shadow. Learning the truth about him was pretty exciting for Buffy. It wasn't often that she could be surprised these days. If this kept up, by the time she finished getting her new teachers, she know pretty much all of Earth's secrets. Freaky!

* * *

A/N: Don't tell me you are disappointed that they're at the school.

Tomorrow…How about Wizarding Studies?


	10. Ch 10: Aug 10 - Family

**Chapter 10: August 10, 2014 – Family **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: early for The Addams Family; before the children were born

A/N: I know I said Wizarding Studies, but then somebody suggested Morticia and I couldn't help myself. It'll be a short one.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. The Addams Family characters belong to Charles Addams, Filmways and MGM Television (through The Program Exchange). I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**0001 Cemetery Lane****, USA**

As they walked up to the house, Buffy, Pomona Sprout and Remus Lupin – who accepted the job as associate professor for History of Magic – fought the urge to reach for a weapon to defend themselves. On a plaque near the door were the words: _Sic gorgiamus allos subjectatos nunc._

"Help me out, Remus," Buffy requested. "Does that really translate as _'__We gladly feast on those who would subdue us'_ or is my Latin even rustier than I thought?"

"At least in this case, your Latin is fine," he answered, trying not to shudder.

Pomona attempted to reassure her colleagues even though she was just as nervous as they were, "Morticia Addams is one of the world's greatest herbologists when it comes to the Category 5 plants. If Hogwarts could secure her as even a part-time professor, we could make tremendous strides in both herbology and potions."

"Okay, I'll try to keep an open mind," Buffy promised as she pulled a noose where a doorbell would usually be, startled when she heard a scream instead of a melodic tone.

It didn't get better when Frankenstein's monster opened the door and rumbled, "Yes?"

Stifling the urge to either fight or flight, Buffy gamely took out a business card and handed it to him. "I'm here to speak with Morticia Addams about a potential job opportunity, please."

"Follow me," the man ordered in the same rumbly tone.

While they waited in the lounge, Remus remarked, "Reminds me of the Shrieking Shack – except not as cozy."

A woman glided into the room. She wore a long, black dress and bore a striking resemblance to Drusilla. "May I help you?" she asked politely.

Buffy introduced herself and her colleague, then gestured to Pomona to take over, "This is Pomona's area of expertise, so I'll let her make the pitch."

By the time Pomona finished, Morticia looked wistful. "I would enjoy the challenge – particularly since I haven't been fortunate enough to become pregnant yet – but I couldn't leave my family. Grandmama is fine on her own for now; eventually she'll find her way out of the caves. But Gomez and Uncle Fester depend on me too much."

"We have other job openings if there's a field that they'd be good at," Buffy offered. Probably not anything to do with the children, but there were other caretaker-ish positions.

"Gomez is positively lethal with a blade," Morticia gushed. "And he handles the family finances extremely well. Our animals adore Uncle Fester; they could just eat him up!"

"We have some interesting creatures at the school. Maybe Fester could care for them. Have you heard of Acromantulas? We have a whole lot of them that we want to turn into a silk farm if we had the right person in charge of it," Buffy quickly decided. Hagrid wouldn't mind the additional help – especially since he was spending more time around the school.

Morticia's face lit up in excitement. "That would be delightful!"

"And I think we have the perfect house for you to live in if you decide you don't want to live in the castle," Remus interjected. "When I saw this house, I was immediately reminded of the Shrieking Shack."

"What a marvelous sounding home!" Morticia replied. She snapped her fingers and the man from earlier lumbered into the room. "Lurch, please inform Gomez and Uncle Fester that I have something important to discuss with them right away."

An hour later, Buffy, Pomona and Remus left the house, breathing a sigh of relief as they walked out of the gate. Buffy turned to the other two and asked, "Did I just invite a family of horror movie characters to a school of children?"

"If it makes you feel better, only the NEWT-level students would have classes with them," Pomona said, searching for the silver lining. "And it really does help to have somebody with the expertise Morticia has on staff so we can get some of the rarer plants into our greenhouses."

"I just hope that Gomez's 'Estate Planning for Heirs' course isn't a flop," Buffy said resignedly.

* * *

A/N: Gomez – Estate Planning; Morticia – NEWT Plants That Kill; Fester – NEWT Creatures That Kill

Tomorrow…We'll try for Wizarding Studies again.


	11. Ch 11: Aug 11 - Eng Prof Keating & Chloe

**Chapter 11: August 11, 2014 – English **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: a more somber feeling chapter

Timeline: Just after the DPS movie (shift the timeline forward to match); late Smallville (AU)…let's say after Jimmy died, Chloe decided to leave.

A/N: I know I promised, but when I saw that Robin Williams died this morning, I had to bump today's story until tomorrow.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Smallville characters belong to DC Comics & WB. Dead Poets Society character belongs to Tom Schulman and Touchstone Pictures. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Metropolis**

She shouldn't have been able to see the ad since she was a 'Muggle'; that was the supposed rule. But like every other rule, there had to be exceptions, and Chloe Sullivan could practically define herself as exceptional. She wouldn't, but she could.

As a fan of the weird side of life, the idea of a parallel world existing alongside of hers intrigued Chloe. Instead of powers derived from meteors, these people were born with their abilities, and they weren't considered superhuman. In addition to learning something new, Chloe hoped that maybe they had abilities that could fight the meteor-infected when Clark couldn't or wouldn't do it.

So she called the number listed at the bottom of the ad.

Two days later, a smartly-dressed blonde and a distinguished-looking gentleman met her at a coffeehouse to discuss the possibility of offering her a job at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. The gentleman took care of the introductions, "Hello, my name is Rupert Giles and this is my associate and the Headmistress of Hogwarts, Buffy Summers."

"Chloe Sullivan," Chloe replied with a smile.

"Well, to jump right in…" Buffy said after they received their drinks, "We've read your resume and some of your articles. You definitely shouldn't be thrown by anything at the school. Your grades are excellent, but I'm concerned about having you responsible for students in the upper grades. There are other young teachers, one even younger than you, in fact, but he's teaching the first and second years…maybe third years if necessary. Would teaching preteens be a problem for you if we could find a teacher for the older grades?"

"What subject?" Chloe asked.

Buffy blushed in embarrassment; in her mind, the obvious choice was English, but she sort of forgot to say that out loud. "English. One thing to remember is that only the muggleborn students have ever studied English in a school setting; it isn't currently offered at Hogwarts."

"Muggleborn?"

"Witches and wizards that don't have magical parents," Giles explained.

Chloe felt a spark that she thought had died with Jimmy and that made her smile. "I love a challenge. If you don't mind a suggestion, I know of a fantastic – if slightly controversial – professor. In the spirit of full disclosure, he was just fired from his current job – no matter what 'mutual decision' line they came up with – but the reason he was fired was because he wanted his students to think for themselves."

Buffy fake-gasped, "The horror of it all! He sounds perfect; these students need somebody like that. A lot of them seem like grade-A Kool-Aid drinkers to me."

* * *

**Hartford, CT**

"I have to admit that your call came as a bit of a shock to me," John Keating started the conversation after introductions were made. "I wasn't expecting another job offer for quite some time, given the way things ended at Welton."

"You weren't…inappropriate with any of your students, were you?" Buffy asked bluntly. She didn't mind quirky or slightly dangerous, but pervy? Not a chance!

John looked confused for a moment, then quickly shook his head. "Not in the way you're thinking. There were parent complaints that I encouraged their boys to seek their own dreams instead of just following the family plan, but no…I never behaved like _that_!"

Giles took over the questioning and inquired, "Could you tell us what led to your dismissal from the Welton Academy?"

Although it was painful at places, John shared the story of his time at his alma mater. The highs and the lows. The amusement when Charlie took the phone call from God in the assembly. The pride he felt when he saw Neil portray Puck onstage. The anguish that followed when he heard of Neil's suicide. And finally, the gratitude that filled him when Todd stood on his desk and uttered, _'O Captain! My Captain!'_

By the end, Buffy was unashamedly crying into the hanky that Giles provided her, and his eyes were suspiciously bright as well.

"You know that you couldn't have foreseen Neil's death, don't you?" Giles remarked kindly.

John gave a wry smile. "Another teacher tried to tell me that as well," he said. "While I know it in my head, my heart disagrees."

"We would love to have to teach at Hogwarts," Buffy offered. "But I understand if it's too soon for you. You'd be facing the same kind of family dynamics there as at Welton, but the difference is that you'd have the rest of the staff trying to get the students to think for themselves, too. We're trying to change their society so they aren't a bunch of sheep, waiting to be picked off by the next wolf to come along."

Taking a deep breath, John considered his options. Wait and wallow, or get back on the horse again? If he didn't want to be a hypocrite, he knew that his only real option was to take the job…try to reach the youth again to mold a brighter future. He set his cup down and asked, "Can you tell me more about Hogwarts?"

* * *

A/N: This was a hard one for me to write for personal reasons, but I felt it was important to get it out today. Robin William's death kind of pushed my grief meter into the red coming so soon after a friend's death last Friday. Maybe it shouldn't have since I don't know him, but it did. I apologize if the chapter isn't up to the standards of the previous ones.

Tomorrow…Don't want to promise again, but I'll cross my fingers.


	12. Ch 12: Aug 12 - Wizarding Studies Profs

**Chapter 12: August 12, 2014 – Wizarding Studies **

Warning: tiny amount of violence

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Buffy's office**

"So one thing I've learned at the Wizengamot, Buffy…" Willow explained as part of their weekly get-together, "The Wizarding World really has a thing about traditions. Some of them are bizarre, like you and I getting Dumbledore's jobs because we beat the Dark Lord; some are oppressive, like marriage contracts; some actually has a purpose, like ritual-based magic. The trick is figuring out which ones we can work towards getting rid of and those that should be celebrated."

Xander interjected, "Well, Hogwarts has a Muggle Studies class to teach about the Muggle world. Why not have a Wizard Studies class to teach about the magic world?" He listened to the rest of their conversation with half his attention so he could get back to studying the proposed changes to the school and looking for any particulars that were missing to turn it into a great school instead of a dangerous theme park experience.

Buffy nodded in agreement. "Cool idea. Thanks, Xander. So we need somebody old school who isn't one of Voldemort's supporters, public or otherwise. I hate suggesting that it has to be a pure-blood, but honestly, they probably know the material better. Maybe a half-blood could handle it if necessary."

"Until a generation or two has passed, I think you have to ease into the changes," Tara remarked. "It takes baby steps sometimes to get from point A to point B. After all, you'll probably have a Muggle, Muggle-born or half-blood as the Muggle Studies professor, won't you?"

"Do you have any ideas?" Buffy asked Willow.

Willow nodded. "As a luck would have it, I do. I asked her to meet with you so she could give you a crash course in their culture, but this could work even better. Her husband was murdered a year ago for opposing Voldemort. Now that she's out of her mourning period, a job could help her feel more useful to society."

* * *

**Longbottom Manor**

When Willow was unable to floo the manor, she took Buffy there using her form of apparition. It wasn't exactly like the Wizarding World's version, but it was close enough that most of them couldn't tell the difference.

"I'm guessing the light display isn't a planned thing, Will?" Buffy asked rhetorically, pulling out her Scythe in preparation for battle.

Willow shook her head. "Be careful, I'm going back to get the others. Try to be stealthy, please?"

"It's my middle name," Buffy assured her. When Willow shot her a look of disbelief, she added, "Okay, for tonight it will be. Now, go!"

She crept her way to the side of the intruders so that she wouldn't be in the way of any spellfire that got passed them from the residents of the house. As she was trying to figure out which one was the most dangerous – and therefore the one who needed to go down first – a figure shimmered in at her side.

"Hey, Buffy," Cole greeted her softly. "Can you tell their numbers?"

"I've only seen the two here, but they'd be crazy not to have somebody in the back," she answered.

"I'll cover the back, then," Cole said, shimmering out less than 30 seconds after he arrived.

A scream from far away signaled that either Cole was noticed in the back or the baddies got in and were hurting the family inside. Either way, it was her cue to get moving. She ran forward and swung her Scythe down on the wand arm of the terrorist closest to her. His hand and the wand it held fell to the ground as he let out a blood-curdling scream of pain.

As she kept moving towards the second terrorist, she made sure to step on the fragile piece of wood in order to snap it in half. If he wanted to attack her again, he'd have to find another way to do it.

The second guy didn't give her a chance to use non-lethal methods. He started firing off those killing curses too fast and too close together for her to get within striking distance. All she was left with was her stake and her throwing knives. Since she kind of doubted that he was a vampire, she opted to use a knife. It was supposed to go into his shoulder, but at the last second, he stumbled and it went through his temple.

"Bugger!" Buffy cursed, running over to break his wand, then towards to house to help Cole and the others.

Meanwhile, Cole shimmered to the back door just as that pair of terrorists broke through the wards and into the house. Upon entering the house, they each chose their targets and cast the torture curse on the husband and wife.

Remembering that he wasn't supposed to be evil anymore, he generated some low-level energy balls and targeting the wand hands of the terrorists with them. It didn't kill them, but it did render their arms useless – probably for the rest of their lives. Once the torture curses were lifted, Frank and Alice Longbottom stunned their attackers, then turned their wands on Cole.

"My name is Cole Turner. I've come to help Headmistress Summers after she and Chief Witch Rosenberg discovered you were under attack," Cole explained as calmly as possible. He wasn't sure what their magic could do to him, but he really wasn't wanting to find out at the moment, either.

Buffy came running in from the other side of the room then, and given the media coverage of her defeat over Voldemort and her appointment to Hogwarts, the Longbottoms recognized her right away. "Is everyone alright?" she asked. "Let me rephrase that, are all the good guys alright?"

"We were hit by the torture curse, but it was only for a few seconds, so a potion should take care of most of the effects," Frank answered. "I don't know what spell Mr. Turner used on them, but it appears to be a kind of lightning spell?"

"I called them energy balls," Cole told them. "By controlling the strength of the energy in them, it can incapacitate or kill. I wanted to start with the former and only use the latter as a last resort."

"Thanks, Cole," Buffy expressed her gratitude for his assistance with a warm smile. "My guess is that the Aurors will be here shortly with Willow, then maybe I can talk to the elder Mrs. Longbottom about a position at Hogwarts?"

"She's upstairs with Neville," Alice managed to get out through her chattering teeth.

Needless to say, saving Augusta's family went a long way to convincing her to take the job offer.

* * *

**Tonks home**

At the request of Augusta, Buffy kept searching for another professor to manage the younger classes of Wizarding Studies. Augusta felt that she didn't have the temperament to deal with smaller children. She would refine the older Muggle-borns and half-bloods until they could interact seamlessly with the pure-bloods in social settings. But somebody else would have to get them ready for her.

With that in mind, and after a couple conversations with the families she helped to save, Buffy wound up with the name Andromeda Tonks as a potential candidate for the position.

Once she got through the small talk and made her proposition, Andromeda reminded her, "You do know that I was raised in the Black family…aptly named because they tend to use the darker magic."

"And yet you chose to marry for love," Buffy retorted. "And you married a Muggle-born. That speaks volumes for your character. I worry more about your character and not that of your family. To be honest, I'm actually kind of hoping that having a Black – even if it is former – as a professor at the school will help ease some of the pure-bloods concerns that I'm changing too much too soon at Hogwarts."

"I'd have to live at home," Andromeda said, starting the negotiations.

* * *

A/N: Hopefully this will appease the pure-bloods of the world.

Tomorrow…What position would you like to see next?


	13. Ch 13: Aug 13 - Astronomy Prof Rajesh

**Chapter 13: August 13, 2014 – Astronomy **

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: AU TBBT season 3 because the university doesn't approve him working with/for Sheldon, so Raj does get deported; this is before Sinistra became the Astronomy professor in HP.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. TBBT characters belong to Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and CBS. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Buffy's office**

Even before Jon came to talk to her about the appalling state of the Astronomy course, Buffy was already trying to think about how to change it. To require young students to stay up so late for a class was ridiculous. It totally messed up their sleep patterns doing that.

And they couldn't give Buffy the bullshit line about needing to do it live because electronics didn't work in Hogwarts, because planetariums preceded electricity. At least for the younger students, a basic model of the night sky would be sufficient for the things they needed to learn.

But it was Jon's visit that made her excited that they would be able to teach graduate-level astronomy – or whatever they called it here – with the combination of charms and an in-depth model created by an astrophysicist/engineer team from California. The night sky they were able to recreate put the current sky charts available in the Wizarding World to shame.

Unfortunately, the current professor refused to lower himself to using Muggle technology. He was from a proud, traditional pureblood family and if it was good enough for his great-grandfather, it was good enough for him!

This was one of those times that Buffy felt it would be okay to buck tradition. She asked some witches and wizards she trusted if knowing more accurate detail would backfire on them, but the ones who had scientific leanings like Zelda and Willow actually told her that it improved their rituals and potions to have more information. Already Zelda was able to improve the Wolfsbane potion to the point that it only needed to be consumed within a week of the full moon rather than the night of it, and she had high hopes that she could extend it even longer.

* * *

**Pasadena, CA**

Jon contacted Dr. Koothrappali to request a set of the metal-punched sky charts he and Mr. Wolowitz created. It wasn't that they were the first ones to make such a set; it was that they had up-to-date representations and were able to craft new charts with relative ease. The plan was to use the sky charts, combined with a charm or two to create a night sky in a newly-designed planetarium at Hogwarts. Since it didn't require electricity, it wouldn't have any problems working there.

As soon as Jon learned that Dr. Koothrappali – Raj – was looking for work, he quickly told Buffy, and they flew out to California to meet with the man.

That had to be the oddest job interview ever conducted.

He knew his work and impressed the heck out of Jon, who was no slouch himself when it came to the study of the stars. The problem came when he was unable to speak in Buffy's presence. As soon as he noticed her enter the room, he cut off mid-sentence and didn't say another word until his colleague and friend, Howard Wolowitz came to his rescue.

"It isn't that he's smitten by you – although he'd have to be blind not to notice your beauty – it's just that he has selective mutism; he can't talk in front of women he's not related to unless it's in a large setting where there are more males than females in the room," Howard explained. "If there were like…thirty more guys in the room right now, and they were blocking his view of you, he'd be able to talk."

"What about teenagers? We'd like him to teach high school astronomy at a boarding school and there'll be girls in his classes," Buffy said, feeling her hopes for a new teacher diminish greatly. If he couldn't talk to half of the school, how would he be able to teach them?

Raj leaned over and whispered in Howard's ear, and Howard repeated what he said, "As long as they are under 18, it's fine. Apparently, as soon as they aren't jailbait anymore, he can't talk to them."

Oh, this had such a bad risk of blowing up in her face! He was already such a mess, and they hadn't even gotten to the part about magic being real yet. They might actually break him with that. She conferred with Jon, and he said that he thought the silent doctor might take the news better than they expected.

With that in mind, Buffy pulled out the forms that Willow had created for her. It was a magical version of a Non-Disclosure Agreement. Once they signed, they were under a gag order that they couldn't break, even if they wanted to. When Buffy countersigned, it meant that she would be punished if the gag order was falsely presented to them or if it was a method of covering up any wrongdoing. She gave one to Koothrappali and also one to Wolowitz, since it appeared necessary for him to remain in the room.

To say they were shocked was the understatement of the century. Buffy had to apologize for not having somebody with them who could perform magic, but she more than made up for it when she performed one of her katas, followed by catching a couple knives thrown at her by Jon.

"That is so cool!" Howard gushed. Raj nodded enthusiastically in agreement.

"So what we need is a teacher for preteen and teenage student who are learning magic. Knowing astronomy is vital to different areas of magic, so we'd like to make sure they get the best teaching possible. Right now they are forcing the students to stay up until late in the evening so they can watch the night sky. We'd like to make it possible for them to see the sky whether it's nighttime or not; whether it's hot, cold, rainy, snowy, clear…you get the idea. What do you say?" Buffy asked.

"Would you really leave us?" Howard also asked, sounding rather sad. Raj nodded miserably and whispered in his ear. "I hate that the university refused to let you work with Sheldon!" Howard exclaimed angrily. "But like you said, it's better than having to go back to India where you can't get a decent burger."

"Need an engineer?" Howard asked hopefully, already thinking about how annoying Sheldon would be without Raj there to deflect some of the sarcasm and insults.

* * *

**Hogwarts**

Buffy gleefully thanked the bigoted pure-blood professor for his service as she handed him his elf-packed bags and final pay at the end of the term. It wasn't her fault that he refused to believe her when she said she was replacing him with a Muggle. She gave him more than enough warning to find another job and pack his belongings himself.

In a few days, Rajesh 'Raj' Koothrappali would arrive and the restructuring of the Astronomy classes would begin in earnest. The tests done with Flitwick's charms on the metal-punched sky charts was a huge success, and whenever anyone needed to find Jon outside of class, they had a better than even chance of finding him in the planetarium, studying the sky.

It would be unveiled to the students come the next schoolyear…and be a big hit with them as well.

* * *

A/N: I know, it's unthinkable that I had a chapter with The Big Bang Theory and didn't include Sheldon or Penny, but to be honest, they weren't really necessary for the job interview – unlike Howard, who needed to be there for Raj.

Tomorrow…Hmm, I'm thinking DADA (or whatever it becomes).


	14. Ch 14: Aug 14 - Defense Prof Harkness

**Chapter 14: August 14, 2014 – Defense**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

**Timeline Reminder: this is at the end of the first Voldemort War (although in my 'verse, it's the only Voldemort War); **not sure for Agatha's timeline

Warning: I know next to nothing about Agatha Harkness, except what I read on her wiki page, so I apologize now for my ignorance.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Marvel Comics characters belong to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Marvel Comics. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Ministry of Magic**

It was Buffy's turn to visit Willow at her office – which happened to be in the Ministry of Magic – to talk about their progress.

"Xander's having a blast coming up with blueprints for the castle. Has he mentioned to you what he'd like to do once the renovations are completed?" Buffy asked, taking a sip of her coffee. She was dragging her feet in switching over to tea. So what if everyone else here drank it? She loved her coffee and wasn't about to give it up without a fight, dammit!

"He's afraid that all he'd be useful at is construction," Willow answered. "I told him that none of us are qualified for the jobs we have, but you know how stubborn he can be."

"Yeah, he's convinced that he's cursed in every other job but construction. Speaking of curses, did you hear that the Defense Against the Dark Arts position is supposedly cursed? For the past 30 or so years, no teacher has lasted more than a year. The lucky ones suffer some kind of public humiliation which requires them to leave; the unlucky ones get maimed or killed," Buffy rambled. That position was proving difficult to fill because of the curse.

Willow looked thoughtful for several minutes. "Huh, I wonder…" she trailed off. Finally she asked, "Do you know if they've tried moving the class to another room or changing the name of the class? Sometimes curses are really specific, so changing a minor thing about the cursed object/person can result in the curse being broken. Like if somebody wanted to curse Buffy Summers, but you got married and took his/her name and became Buffy Newname, the curse wouldn't be effective against you anymore."

"That's got to suck for people with a name like John Smith," Buffy said.

"Only if the curse is on all people named John Smith; there is some intent tied to it, too," Willow stated simplistically. She was putting it in the most basic terms she could so she wouldn't confuse Buffy. "The point is, you could try changing the name and room and see if that changes anything."

"I'd still have to find somebody willing to take the risk," Buffy muttered.

A disembodied voice interjected, "Perhaps I can be of some assistance in that matter. I mean you no harm," she said as she slowly came into their line of sight. She was an old woman…very old, and held a black cat in her arms. "My name is Agatha Harkness, and I would like to discuss a mutually beneficial partnership for us."

"You're real?" Willow gasped out, looking like she was about to go all fangirl.

Buffy glanced at her best friend while keeping an eye on the mysterious woman. "You've heard of her?"

"Let's just say that in a Who's Who of magical people, she's in the Top 10…probably Top 5," Willow answered with excitement. Tara would be so jealous that she wasn't here!

"I apologize for eavesdropping on your conversation, but I was seeking a group powerful enough to protect me from my enemies. I may know a lot about magical spells and how to use them for protection, but I'm not as powerful as I used to be. Against the people who are coming after me, I fear that I would fail. While I don't fear death, I still would prefer to avoid it for a bit longer, if possible," Agatha told them.

Willow grabbed Buffy's hands and demanded, "You have to accept her offer and help her! The knowledge she has about so many things…I- I-" she couldn't finish her sentence she was so worked up.

Buffy shrugged. "We'd have to find somebody who could do the spellwork with the students, but we've been trying to have a senior professor and a junior one for all the classes so far anyway. You could teach the theory part and somebody else could handle the practical. We just need to verify that you are who you say you are."

"Nicholas Flamel and his wife Perenelle should be able to vouch for me. And there are enough people in England who know of the Flamels to vouch for them," Agatha suggested.

"Cool. I'll use one of those post-owls to take a note to him."

* * *

**Buffy's office**

A week later, Buffy had her Professor of Magical Protections – Theory approved by the Board. All she had to do was introduce Agatha Harkness to the boardmembers and they pretty much were happy to give her whatever job she wanted at the school.

Currently she was in a staff meeting to talk about the other half of that position. Minerva suggested, "Perhaps we should get an Auror or duelist to cover the practical."

"Wouldn't we have to worry about them leaving after a year…or less?" Buffy asked. "Maybe we could get somebody who's willing to apprentice for a few years in exchange for teaching practical?"

Tara raised her hand and said, "I wouldn't mind learning protective magic – especially under Agatha Harkness."

"Cool! Any objections, 'cause it doesn't matter, Tara's got the job," Buffy rushed out before anyone had the chance to make sense of what she was saying. She liked the idea of Tara becoming a stronger, more confident witch. Plus there was the added bonus of having another Sunnydale survivor inside the castle to keep an eye on Dawn. Her baby sis wasn't quite the kidnap victim she used to be, but it still happened occasionally.

"You should also consider starting a physical education class," Methos suggested. "Not only will it teach the students about the benefits of keeping fit, you can expand it to include fencing, self-defense, that sort of thing."

Buffy nodded, "I like that. Okay, tomorrow I'll start the search for a phy ed teacher."

* * *

A/N: Who saw that coming, 'cause I sure didn't when I started the chapter!

Tomorrow…Bet you can guess!


	15. Ch 15: Aug 15 - Phy Ed Professor Ellison

**Chapter 15: August 15, 2014 – Phy Ed**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

**Timeline Reminder: this is at the end of the first Voldemort War (although in my 'verse, it's the only Voldemort War); **towards the end of The Sentinel; pre-series for Leverage.

Warning: possibly unrealistic accident rescue

A/N: Longest chapter yet; don't expect this again.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Highlander characters belong to Davis-Panzer Productions. The Sentinel characters belong to UPN, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. Leverage characters belong to John Rogers, Chris Downey, and TNT. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Washington State**

As they drove down the quiet country road, Methos apologized to Buffy, "I'm sorry Duncan turned you down. Guess he figures he can do more good out in the world."

She gave a half-shrug. "At least he promised to be a guest lecturer. Between some of his stories and a practical demonstration of his sword fighting…I think there'll be some seriously impressed students and staff."

They discussed other possible Immortals to help out while they traveled. With most of them, Methos figured they would respond like the Highlander: they'd be happy to come occasionally, but wouldn't want to stay there indefinitely.

As they took a particularly sharp curve, Buffy had to slam on the brakes to avoid the wreck in front of them. She jumped out and yelled back at Methos, "Grab the road kit from the trunk and set up the warning beacons before the curve!"

She took the ever-present first aid kit from the backseat and ran towards the accident. The truck was on its side with the driver dangling from his seatbelt, unconscious. The front end of the truck was smushed, making it difficult to enter through the windshield. So she used the emergency car tool to break the driver's side window completely.

Inverting herself to get a better look at his potential injuries, Buffy saw a nice goose egg on his forehead – which probably accounted for him being knocked out. "Can you hear me?" she asked. No response. She carefully felt around his neck area for damage to the spine, but didn't feel anything. Then she ran her hand down his back for as far she could reach. Nothing obvious, but she wasn't sure.

She pulled herself out and went to check the other vehicle. This guy probably could wait…hopefully.

They were in a Jeep that was still upright, but oddly looked like it sustained more damage. Both the driver and his passenger were semi-conscious. Buffy forced the driver's door open and cut the seatbelt off the guy using her tool again (Thank you, Faith, for suggesting they carry those all the time!)

"Can you move?" she asked him.

"Yes," he said after a minute. "I'll probably need some help, though."

Buffy gently eased him out and handed him off to Methos, who had just arrive after he moved the rental car back around the curve, set out the warning signs, then attempted to call emergency services. Unfortunately, they were in a cellular dead zone, so they'd have to get out of this area before they could try again. That would wait until they cared for the accident victims and made sure none of them were in danger of bleeding out.

Speaking of blood, the passenger had a nasty gash on his upper arm that was gushing the red stuff. Buffy pulled out the necessary items from her first aid kit so she could stop the bleeding long enough to pull the guy out. Unfortunately, his door was crushed against the guardrail, so she'd have to drag him across the center of the Jeep…not a fun thing for either of them.

Buffy and Methos managed to get the pair back to the rental and made sure they were comfortable before going to the truck to check on the first guy again. They were walking back when Buffy stopped suddenly. "Do you smell that?" she asked.

"What?" Methos replied.

She took another big whiff, then coughed a little at the smell. "It's gas…and it's leaking pretty good based on how strong it's getting."

Methos sniffed, too, and nodded. "I can smell it now. We'd better pull the other guy out before a fire starts."

Buffy eased her way down into the cab of the truck so she could grab the guy while Methos cut his seatbelt. For better or worse, he was still unconscious as they worked. Methos grabbed the guy's shirt until Buffy lifted the guy enough for him to get his arms hooked under the victim's. Then he shimmied back along the truck so he could lay the man down flat on top of a blanket they had in their kit. After Buffy lifted herself out of the cab, they eased him down using the makeshift hammock to keep from jostling him too much.

As luck would have it, a sheriff's car pulled up just as they reached the rental car. He called dispatch using his radio, then got Buffy and Methos' description of what they knew. He carefully moved around the curve to look at the accident site, making sure to set up warning signs on the other side so people from the opposite direction wouldn't get too close.

* * *

**Hospital**

If anyone had asked why they stuck around, neither Buffy nor Methos could have explained it. Normally leaving right away was their first instinct. Of course, maybe the sheriff's presence influenced them. If they took off, it might appear suspicious to the man. Since they didn't do anything wrong – and didn't have any strange items in their possession – there was no reason to be concerned about a closer look at their car or their identities.

As expected, the two guys in the Jeep were the first ones to give their statements to the sheriff. Something had slicked up the road just before they took the curve, which caused them to veer out of control into the truck. Once they were done talking to him, they asked to see the people who helped them, if possible.

"I'm Jim Ellison, and this is my friend, Blair Sandburg," the military-looking one said. "Thanks for helping us." His eyes narrowed a bit when he got a closer look at the pair in front of him. It was the couple from the vision he had just before they left Cascade. Why would he have a vision about them?

"You get visions?" Buffy asked, making Jim realize that he asked his question out loud. "I wonder how many people that happens to," she remarked to Methos.

"You don't think that's odd?" Blair asked from his bed.

Buffy started giggling, and even Methos grinned a little. "You'd have to try a lot harder to find something we'd consider odd," she answered through her giggles. "On a scale of 1 to 10, that's a 1…_maybe_."

"I think they might be the answer to our problem, Jim," Blair said to his friend. "That's probably why you had a vision about them."

"Problem?" Methos inquired warily. Sometimes he felt life would be less stressful with the Highlander. Buffy and her people had the hero complex down to a science and with so many of them, they were constantly finding people to help. Granted, he was one of those people, so he really shouldn't complain.

Jim seemed reluctant to answer, but after a couple pointed looks from Blair, he explained, "I was fired from my previous job as a detective of the Cascade police department. Even though I caught a lot of criminals, the way I did it made it difficult to prosecute them sometimes."

"You bent or broke the law?" Buffy guessed.

"No," Jim sighed. "I have certain…abilities that I use, but since they are so unusual, I can't be upfront about them. That means the lawyers routinely say that what I found out was impossible with normal methods."

Thinking about some of the things she did over the years, Buffy could definitely sympathize with him. Good thing most of her baddies didn't have to be prosecuted in a court of law. She gave him a once-over and smiled at what she saw. "Ever consider teaching physical education to a group of specially-abled students?" she asked.

"The handicapped?" Jim asked.

"Nooo," she drawled. "They also have certain abilities that can't be dealt with in a normal school setting."

* * *

**Other hospital room**

Buffy left Methos to discuss the school with Jim and Blair in general terms while she went to look in on the other guy. As she approached his room, she saw two guys who made the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. They made her very uneasy.

She grabbed a dinner tray from a nearby cart and walked into the room, announcing herself in a cheery way, "Who's ready for some yummy Jell-o?"

The way the two men jumped away from the hospital bed confirmed her impression they weren't here to wish the guy a speedy recovery.

Smiling brightly at them, she said, "Sorry, but you'll have to leave until after dinner hours are done."

It looked as if they wanted to argue with her, but then a nurse walked in, and they decided that discretion was more important.

"How's he doing?" Buffy asked the nurse.

Thinking that Buffy was the patient's girlfriend, the nurse answered, "He has a slight concussion, but no other serious injuries. You'll have to check him every couple hours for the next day, but he'll be able to leave tonight if you want."

"Cool. Would you mind asking the doctor to come talk to us about his outpatient care, please?" Buffy requested politely. When dealing with people who could make your life hell while trying to help you, politeness went a long way towards getting them on your side.

After the nurse left, Buffy shook the guy to wake him up.

"What?" he growled groggily.

"I think you might be in danger if you stay in the hospital, so I'm pretending to be your girlfriend or sister – whichever you'd prefer. Hopefully you aren't a bad guy, but even if you are, I don't think the two guys I chased out of here a few minutes ago are good guys, so I'll still help you," she babbled.

He took a couple deep breaths while he made sense of her words. "Girlfriend; we don't look like siblings," he decided. "My name's Eliot Spencer."

"Buffy Summers," she introduced herself. "So should we seal this with a kiss?" she teased.

"Maybe later, darling," he retorted in the same way.

* * *

**Hotel room, couple towns away**

That evening, Buffy got Eliot settled into the bed while she made herself comfortable in a nearby chair. She and Methos planned to take turns checking on him through the night. His only reaction to her surprise guest was, "Three strays in one trip? Is that a record for you?"

"I managed to get a couple pictures of your visitors while Adam got you out of your room. Do you recognize them?" Buffy asked, holding up her cell phone for him to study.

"They're Moreau's men," Eliot said. "Guess he didn't accept my decision to leave very well."

"Moreau's a bad guy?" Buffy guessed. "Were you his employee, lover or prisoner?"

"Mostly the first one, a little of the third, not at all the second," he answered with a smirk. "I did some nasty stuff for him for a while. The last job was too much for me, so I got out in order to save what little humanity I might have left."

It wasn't the answer she was hoping for, but Buffy didn't feel _totally_ horrible for saving him, so it was a good start.

Throughout the night, Buffy would talk to Eliot when he was awake, then go back to her paperwork when he needed to rest. It was dawn before she realized that she never asked Methos to take over for her. She'd let him handle the day checks so he could make his own determination about Eliot's character.

As it was, she was leaning towards finding a spot for Eliot at the school, but she didn't want to risk letting a dangerous guy have access to her students just because he was able to bullshit her. Methos would be harder to bullshit, so if he agreed, she'd create a Home Ec class and have Eliot teach the kids to cook the Muggle way.

He agreed and less than a week later, five people were flying to Heathrow in England before heading to Diagon Alley for supplies and appropriate Wizarding clothes.

* * *

A/N: Gonna say right now that I have no clue if that's the correct way to get people out of vehicles; if anyone is a first responder and has a complaint, feel free to tell me the proper way and I'll change it.

Tomorrow…That's for me to know and for you to guess.


	16. Ch 16: Aug 16 - Asst Librarian Blair

**Chapter 16: August 16, 2014 – Assistant Librarian**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Marvel Comics characters belong to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Marvel Comics. The Sentinel characters belong to UPN, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Hogwarts Library**

"So what am I doing in the library?" Buffy asked her assistant, Walter, in slight annoyance. She was on her way to taste-test some of the foods that Eliot was planning to teach the students how to make the Muggle way, and didn't want to be late.

He gave her a small, sheepish smile and said, "I was told that in order to make you aware of the need, you had to see what they were talking about. That meant coming here."

Her newest acquisition, Blair, came out of the office with the librarian, Madame Irma Pince, a dour-looking woman who seemed offended that there were people in _her_ library. She had just begun a couple years prior, but she already was as protective of the books here as a mother bear was with her cubs.

"Did you know there are tens of thousands of books in this library?" Blair began his speech.

Buffy shook her head, "Nope, can't say that I did. Doesn't surprise me, though. Look at the size of this place!"

"Exactly!" Blair exclaimed. "And you only have one librarian on staff right now!"

"You don't have any help?" Buffy asked Madame Pince in shock. "Not even some students looking for extracurricular credit or something?"

Madame Pince looked scandalized at the idea. "Allow the students to handle the books more than necessary?!"

Buffy turned back to Blair, assuming he had a solution the woman could live with. "What's your point?"

"I would love a chance to study these books, and since you haven't told me about a different position you had for me here, I thought maybe I could be Irma's assistant," Blair said, ignoring the twitch on Madame Pince's face when he called her by her first name.

"And this is acceptable with you, Madame Pince?" Buffy checked with the other woman.

"It is…adequate," she allowed. "Mr. Sandburg has told me about his training as an anthropologist, so he understands how to handle delicate objects properly."

"Then it's fine with me," Buffy agreed easily. "But I do have one rule for you, Mr. Sandburg…until Madame Pince gives you permission to call her by her first name, you will address her formally. Understand?"

He thought it was cold, but he'd abide for as long as it took to crack the ice around the librarian's personality. "Understood, and I will."

Buffy nodded and offered him some friendliness, "When we aren't with the student, you may call me Buffy. Otherwise, it has to be Headmistress Buffy. The previous Headmaster was called Professor Dumbledore, but since I'm not and have never been a professor, it would be wrong of me to use that title. Let me know if you need anything else," she added to both of them before leaving the library.

* * *

**Staff lounge**

A few days later, the staff was discussing an article in the Daily Prophet, and a loud discussion broke out about acceptable behavior by wizards and witches. It didn't really matter what the topic was, but it ended with Agatha Harkness pinning Buffy with a look.

"Perhaps it would be prudent for Hogwarts to provide a class on the proper attitude to have when using magic," she suggested/ordered.

Buffy could tell it was more of an order than a suggestion, but since she agreed, she wasn't about to make a fuss. "Are you thinking about an Ethics course?"

Agatha nodded. "Precisely. After the students take their OWLS, then we could make Ethics a mandatory course for the last two years of their schooling. For their first five years, it could just be incorporated into their lessons for other subjects."

"I like the idea. Are you willing to be the professor?" Buffy asked.

"Until somebody more appropriate can be found," Agatha responded after thinking it over a few minutes.

Buffy snorted. "I think it would be hard to find somebody better for the job than you."

* * *

A/N: Sorry about the briefness of this; I'm fighting a pounding headache tonight that refuses to go away.

Tomorrow…Assistant Healer(s)


	17. Ch 17: Aug 17 - Nurses Greg & Peter

**Chapter 17: August 17, 2014 – Nurses**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: season 1, episode 9 for Heroes; end of Meet the Parents.

Warning: AU ending for MtP.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. MtP characters belong to Jim Herzfeld, John Hamburg, Greg Glienna and Mary Ruth Clarke and TriBeCa Productions. Heroes characters belong to Tim Kring, Tailwind Productions, NBC Universal Television Studio and Universal Media Studios. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Airport, Long Island**

While he waited to be interrogated for losing his cool, Greg reconsidered his relationship with Pam. He did love her – there was no question about that – but honestly, what kind of life would they have if she did accept his proposal? Between her family and his, and the Grand Canyon-size gap between their respective values, their life would be a constant series of compromises and struggles that neither side would be satisfied with.

As much as he loved Pam, he didn't think he wanted to marry into her family. He just wasn't sure where that left him.

Just then, a short, blonde woman came in and sat down across from him. "Hey, not sure if this is the best time or not, but I was wondering if you'd be interested in a job overseas."

"Are you supposed to be back here?" Greg asked with a look of bewilderment on his face.

"Ehh," she shrugged. "There's not a lot they can do to somebody with my clearance."

Greg's eyes narrowed and he growled, "Are you one of Jack's _associates_?"

"I have the vague feeling of being insulted, despite not knowing how you mean the word 'associates' in that sentence. Can't say who Jack is, but my name is Buffy Summers and I'm the Headmistress of a boarding school and we need another school nurse. I've checked your background and think you'd be a great fit for us."

"Can you get me out of here before they arrest me?" Greg asked hopefully.

"Sure," Buffy answered.

When he saw Jack open the door and walk in, Greg nodded and said, "I'm willing to discuss it more if we can leave right now."

Buffy saw the guy approaching them and Greg's reaction, so she decided to play a little. She winked at Greg and whispered, "Play along." She stood up and moved around to the other side of the table to release his hands from their cuffs – thank you to her new hires for showing her how to quickly pick a set of handcuffs.

When she made eye contact with Jack, she quirked an eyebrow and snapped, "Who are you and why are you interfering in my investigation?"

"This man is my daughter's boyfriend, and I'd like to speak to him," Jack snapped back.

Buffy glanced at Greg. "Would you like to have him present during our talk?" she asked.

"No. I don't think that would be to my benefit," Greg replied, trying hard to hide his smirk when it became clear that Jack wouldn't be able to bully to get his way with this woman. He might not end up taking the job at her school, but he definitely would enjoy this moment for years to come.

* * *

**New York City**

Peter felt like he was going crazy. His life the past year sure suggested he was. And now on top of everything else, his long term patient, Charles Deveaux, passed away.

To make matters worse, the painting Charles owned was sold to a guy in Las Vegas. He needed that painting to know who the girl was that he needed to save so he could save the world.

A knock at his door broke him out of his tumultuous thoughts. "Coming!" he shouted.

He felt a surge of _something_ when he opened it and found a young, blonde woman on the other side. "Can I help you?" he asked politely.

She smiled at him, hoping to put him at ease since she knew her words probably would freak him out. "I hope so. I've heard rumors that you are used to strange things, and you happen to be a nurse as well. Both those things are a huge plus for a job offer I have for a boarding school in Scotland."

Once she finished explaining about magic and Hogwarts, Peter sat back in his chair, considering what he should do. "Would it be possible for you to help me save somebody's life first?" he asked.

"Is this a test or do you have somebody specific in mind?" she wondered.

It was his turn to explain about Hiro's visit and the cheerleader that needed saving. "But I don't know who or where she is because the painting that would tell me her identity has been sold."

"Well, we have a couple options. One is to pull the memory of the painting from your mind so we can study it. Another is to find the painting and get a look at it with or without the owner's permission," Buffy mused.

"You can do that to my memory?" Peter asked, half-amazed and half-horrified.

"Not me personally, but one of my people," Buffy clarified before smiling. "And I didn't mean for that to sound so mobster-ish…sorry."

After contacting Minerva and retrieving the memory, they found the high school. From there, they went onto the internet to find the cheerleader in question. With permission from the American Ministry of Magic, they apparated to Odessa, Texas. Turns out that the cheerleader they came for wasn't the cheerleader they needed to save, but they saved her anyway from some creep who wanted to split her head open.

He was holding her by the throat in the girls' locker room. Buffy raced back into the school, past Peter and Minerva, activating her collapsible sword as she ran. He had just started to cut her forehead when Buffy punched him in the ribs, breaking several in the process. Not wanting to risk either of the girls, Buffy quickly swung the sword and decapitated the man…praying this wouldn't come back to bite her in the ass later.

Fortunately, as she found out from the American officials who conducted her interrogation, the man was a suspected serial killer. Given that he was in the process of adding another victim to his tally when she killed him, they didn't give her too much grief over carrying a sword.

That actually bothered her more than if they had arrested her.

* * *

**Hogwarts**

"Madame Pomfrey, may I introduce you to your two new assistants, Greg Focker and Peter Petrelli. They are Muggle nurses, but they are more than willing to learn about potions. And if I don't miss my guess, Peter may be able to use magic once he's been here long enough," Buffy added with a knowning smirk.

* * *

A/N: Did anyone guess these two?

Tomorrow…Let's go with Muggle Studies.


	18. Ch 18: Aug 18 - Muggle Studies Profs

**Chapter 18: August 18, 2014 – Muggle Studies**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: mid-season 2 for The Pretender; waaaay post-series for Bewitched.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. The Pretender characters belong to Steven Long Mitchell, Craig W. Van Sickle, Mitchell/Van Sickle Productions, NBC Studios and 20th Century Fox Television. Bewitched characters belong to Sol Saks and Sony Pictures Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**The Three Broomsticks**

Buffy was startled when she looked up from her menu and saw Oz, of all people, standing in the doorway, searching the room for somebody or something. When he saw her, he gave a half-smile and nod, then made his way over to her table. "Hey," he greeted her in typical Oz-fashion.

"Hi, Oz. Long time, no see," she replied. "How are you doing?"

"Fine. You?"

"Can't complain most days. So what brings you here?" she asked, hoping to get more than a word or two out of him.

"Found out you ran a school and thought about helping. Then I ran into somebody and thought you could help each other," Oz said.

He waved a guy over from the bar. He was a tall drink of yummy water. Dark hair and piercing eyes. Whew! It was like Cole all over again!

"Jarod, this is my friend, Buffy Summers, the Headmistress of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Buffy, this is Jarod. He doesn't know who he is, but he can be anyone you need him to be."

"You kinda make him sound like a prostitute, Oz. Wait, how did you find out I was at Hogwarts?" Buffy asked.

"Faith," Oz answered simply.

Buffy shook her head; of course Faith wouldn't think that she needed to know Oz was headed to England/Scotland. Probably thought it would be funny. "So what's your deal, Jarod?" she inquired to get away from complaining mentally about Faith's sense of humor.

Jarod looked at Oz for reassurance, then began his story, "I was kidnapped as a child by an organization called The Centre. They somehow knew that I had the ability to assume the identity of just about anybody in order to learn a secret or to develop a weapon. Then they would sell the information to the highest bidder. It didn't matter if they were good or evil…just that they could afford the price."

"After a couple decades, I discovered what they were doing with my research, so I escaped. While trying to find clues about my real family, I also help people as a way to make amends for the atrocities my simulations were used for. But it's been over a year and I'm no closer to finding any answers. Worse, The Centre is still searching for me and doesn't care who they have to hurt to take me back into custody. I want to help people, but it's too dangerous when Parker's goons could show up at any time with guns. I'm just tired of running all the time," he admitted.

"Wow. I don't know what to say to that," Buffy remarked.

"He's telling the truth about his ability to be anyone and that people are chasing after him. I witnessed both of those things a few weeks ago," Oz confirmed grimly. "After he saved a girl's life, a woman showed up with two guys and a bunch of thugs. One of the thugs didn't care that he shot in the direction of me and some other innocents; all he cared about was that Jarod was running past us. That's why I wasn't too sorry about interfering with their capture."

Remembering how she felt the summers after she killed the Master and Angel, and how she wished that somebody could have helped her find some rest, Buffy felt compelled to give Jarod a reprieve from his life. "Are you able to talk to kids? Do you think you can be a teacher?" she asked.

"He can't do magic," Oz warned.

"I can tell you what it feels like to do magic, and possibly with enough study, I could tell you why a spell works the way it does, but apparently my ability to become other people doesn't include mystical abilities," Jarod explained further.

Buffy nodded. "Good to know. I was thinking more about you teaching the students about the Muggle world. As insane as it sounds, their textbooks are even more outdated than ours were at Sunnydale. They still consider 'flying machines' a new Muggle novelty. Doesn't help that the course is taught by a pureblood who has never lived in the Muggle world himself."

* * *

**Agatha Harkness' quarters**

That evening, Buffy's presence was requested in the legendary witch's rooms. She was told that it would be worth her while to come. With her curiosity piqued, Buffy went down at the appointed time.

"Ahh, Miss Summers, thank you for coming," Agatha greeted her warmly. "I have somebody I'd like you to meet. Samantha Stevens, this is Headmistress Buffy Summers; Miss Summers, this is Samantha Stevens, the daughter of an old…_friend_ of mine."

Samantha smiled at the introduction. "That's a much kinder term than I've heard the two of you use in the past about each other." She turned to Buffy and added in a conspiratorial manner, "They used to be best friends, but then they fell in love with the same warlock and have been fighting ever since."

"And I bet he wasn't good enough for either of them," Buffy replied with a grin.

Agatha sniffed imperiously. "He wasn't good enough for a slug…which is what we turned him into when we found him with yet another witch. Tea?" she asked in order to get the meeting back on track.

While she served, Samantha explained that she married a mortal man back in the 1960s, but that he died a couple years ago from complications due to smoking and drinking incessantly for over 25 years. She had to wear glamours for most of their married life so it appeared that she aged with him. Now that he was gone, she wanted to get back to her witchy roots.

"Well, I just hired a guy to be the Muggle Studies teacher, but it actually might be useful if we have somebody with your experience in both worlds teach the younger students. You can relate to their struggles when it comes to doing things without magic," Buffy mused aloud. "Does that sound like something you'd be interested in?"

"It would," Samantha said gratefully. It would be nice to be useful again…and in a magical community as well.

"Great!" Buffy exclaimed. "So I have Muggle Studies covered and Oz said he'd like to teach some music. Now all I have to do is get the senior professor for Music and that class will be taken care of, too."

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the suggestions of Jarod and Samantha! They were really a life saver.

Tomorrow…Eh, might as well do Music.


	19. Ch 19: Aug 19 - Music Professor Holland

**Chapter 19: August 19, 2014 – Music**

A/N: Real life made it difficult to write today and I barely managed this much before midnight.

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Mr. Holland's Opus characters belong to Patrick Sheane Duncan, Hollywood Pictures, Interscope Communications and PolyGram Filmed Entertainment. Sister Act characters belong to Joseph Howard and Touchstone Pictures. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**San Francisco, California**

"I am so going to make Willow tweak that locating spell," Buffy muttered as she walked into St. Katherine's Parish. She watched the nun's choir perform what she guessed had to be a semi-blasphemous medley of songs under the direction of their new music director, Sister Mary Clarence. If that woman was a real nun, Buffy was class valedictorian at Sunnydale and the past several years were just a weird dream.

Whatever game she was running on the convent and parish – and how she managed to fool them into believing she wasn't a displaced showgirl wannabe – Buffy just knew that she didn't want to bring that kind of character into Hogwarts. Her gut said to steer clear of this person and her baggage.

"Sorry, Oz, I just can't do this," Buffy apologized to her friend as she walked out of the church.

* * *

**Portland, Oregon**

A large part of Buffy wanted to go up and punch the principal in the nose for getting rid of the music department. Even though she didn't participate herself in high school, she knew that it was an important part of the educational experience for a lot of her classmates.

But at least the former students of JFK High School had the last word. On the last day of school, they came to honor their former teacher, Glenn Holland, by performing a music piece he had spent decades working on while he taught them the joy of music. The clear admiration they had for him made him exactly the kind of teacher she needed at Hogwarts.

She stopped him as he was leaving the auditorium after the performance. "Mr. Holland? I was wondering if I could persuade you to take another teaching position at a boarding school in Scotland. They need somebody who can teach them to love music as much as you do."

* * *

**Sunnydale**

Once Buffy accepted that she would be the Headmistress, she knew her first goal was to get the students counseling help. For the formal part, she would get qualified psychologists/psychiatrists, but since mental health care seemed to be a foreign concept to the Wizarding World, she wanted to ease them into the idea.

Having their emotional health read by an empathic demon probably would feel more normal to the magical people than the Muggle method. And since Lorne left Wolfram & Hart after his disastrous Halloween party years ago, he was looking for a new challenge in life. Running his new bar in Sunnydale was getting tiresome for Lorne. And he hated the feeling of the Hellmouth.

* * *

A/N: Yes, I changed the ending of BtVS and AtS. Sunnydale still exists and Faith is the Slayer protecting it.

Tomorrow…Not sure at the moment.


	20. Ch 20: Aug 20 - Runes Professor Jones

**Chapter 20: August 20, 2014 – Runes**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: Let's pretend Crystal Skull wasn't made, alright? After Tomb Raider for Lara Croft.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Indiana Jones character belongs to George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and The Walt Disney Company. Lara Croft characters belong to Mutual Film Company, Eidos Interactive and Lawrence Gordon Productions. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Watchers' Council**

While her relationship with the Council was better than it had been in her senior year, Buffy still cringed at the idea of willingly going into their clutches – even just for an update meeting. To her shock, they had very few qualms about her being in charge of a magical school instead of slaying full-time. Perhaps they thought she was too old to slay anymore.

This particular meeting was done at their request but for her benefit. Seemed as though they had a couple potential professors for her. Hopefully they wouldn't be to Watcher-ish…unless it was the Giles or later-Wes kind of Watcher.

"Ms. Summers, how good of you to be punctual for this meeting," Travers drawled, proving that while they were allies, he was still an asshole. "Let's dispense with the pleasantries and get right to business. We've heard that you need people who can teach your students about understanding runes. While we can't spare any of our full-time employees, there are a couple of freelance archeologists we have used in the past who need to know runes in order to avoid traps and the like when searching for artefacts."

Buffy fought the urge to snort at the idea of allowing a Council grunt access to her life and the lives of her students. She drew on her inner-Giles to keep a polite smile on her face as she responded, "Thank you for the consideration, Mr. Travers. Do you have their CVs handy so I can check their credentials?"

Never had the raise of an eyebrow felt so condescending to her as the one Travers just performed. But he still had an assistant carry a couple folders over to her place at the table. "I'll just leave you alone for a few minutes while you peruse those. Please let Mr. Andrews know when you're ready to proceed."

As she read, Buffy found herself impressed and a little confused by some of their adventures. If she wasn't mistaken, one of Indiana Jones' included fighting some Nazis…_actual_ Nazis and not the wannabes that popped up decades later in the US and other places. If that was true – and he wasn't magical – he'd have to be pushing 100 years old, if not older. She discounted the idea that he was part-demon because the Council wouldn't have anything to do with him if he were.

And Lady Croft's – a _real_ Lady of the Realm – trips made her experiences as a Slayer seem tame by comparison. Well, they made her day-to-day experiences look tame; they kinda matched her apocalypses in excitement. Why would she ever decide to teach children?

Buffy signaled to Mr. Andrews, who led Indiana Jones in first for the interview portion.

"Good afternoon, Dr. Jones," Buffy greeted him with a smile. He was far younger than she expected him to be. In fact, if she had to guess, she'd only put him at younger than Giles' age. "My name is Buffy Summers."

He smiled back in the same friendly manner she showed. "Please, call me Indy."

"Buffy." She paused, then decided to jump into a potentially tricky spot with her opening question. "I assume that Mr. Travers explained to you why I wanted to meet you, but before we get into the details, I was wondering if I could ask you something?"

"He just said something about a job at an ancient castle," Indiana replied. "As far as what you want to know, I am human, I am 110 years old, and the reason that I look like I do is because I drank from the Holy Grail when I was in my late 30s. It hasn't made me immortal, but it has slowed my aging process considerably."

"Wow. Of all the scenarios I was thinking, that wasn't even in there," Buffy managed to say after several minutes of staring at him. She shook her head to clear it and said, "The job is teaching magical students how to read and write runes. Travers believed it would be right up your alley because of the fieldwork you've had over the course of your lifetime."

Indiana leaned back in his chair and thought about it. "I has been quite some time since I got to teach. With my lack of aging and the changes in technology, it is hard to fake the necessary credentials. What age are you thinking of?"

"It's an elective course that begins in their third year, which means you'd be teaching children as young as 13 and as old as 18. It may seem odd to teach them that young, but runes are important to many spells and rituals, so it's necessary," Buffy said.

He waved off her concerns. "It's basically like any other language; the younger you can teach them, the easier they'll find to learn it. I think I would like to try it. Thank you for the opportunity to teach again."

Buffy laughed. "We'll see if you still think that after you've had to deal with them for a few months. I have another interview with a Lara Croft when we're done, but we need two professors, so even if she works out as well, I'd like to welcome you to the Hogwarts family."

By the time Buffy finished her spiel with Lady Croft, she guessed that she wouldn't get a positive response from the tomb raider – or whatever the politically-correct term for it was these days.

Just like she expected, Lara answered, "My schedule is too full at the moment, but when I'm in the area, I wouldn't mind coming in for a guest lecture if that helps at all."

"That would be great," Buffy said, finding that she actually meant it. She knew that the pure-bloods wanted her to hire somebody named Bathsheda Babbling. Ms. Babbling was too young to assume the post of senior professor, but she'd make a good associate to Dr. Jones until she got a few years' experience in teaching under her belt.

* * *

A/N: So Lara is one of the guest professors that won't live at the castle.

Tomorrow…I'm thinking I'll go with Divination.


	21. Ch 21: Aug 21 - Divination Profs

**Chapter 21: August 21, 2014 – Divination**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: after 'The Eyes Have It' but before 'Baby's First Demon' (same season as when Cole left, as luck would have it)

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Charmed characters belong to Constance M. Burge and the WB. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Devon**

"Thanks for meeting me, Slayer," Spike started. His twitchy behavior was making Buffy wary. While they'd never be the best of friends, his help in saving Dawn's life during the Glory saga meant they were closer than a Slayer should be with a vampire – especially a non-souled vampire. But he was acting like it was after he was chipped and before he saved Dawn's life. He better not have had another robot made in her likeness!

"What's up, Spike?" she asked, scanning the room for anything out of the ordinary.

"I have a favor to ask of you…one that I would take care of myself, except I only seem to make the situation worse. The Forehead is definitely out because…well, if I'm the 'baddie of the week', he's the 'year-end apocalypse'," Spike rambled – actually rambled _and_ used the Scooby villain rating system without mocking it; this was definitely going to be huge.

"Angel hasn't lost his soul or anything again, has he?" Buffy checked. It didn't sound like it, but it didn't hurt to make sure. Seemed like he lost it every few years and she couldn't remember if it had been two or three years since the last time.

"Nah, Hair Gel is doing fine…for him, anyway," Spike snarked. "You've heard of Mohra demons, haven't you?"

Buffy thought for a moment, then said, "Sparkly jewel in the forehead that you have to smash to kill them, right?" Spike nodded. "Angel killed one my first year of college when I visited him in LA."

"Well, see the thing is that their blood has regenerative powers…really strong regenerative powers…" he trailed off uncomfortably.

"Uh-huh, hence the needing to break the ruby in their head since killing them any other way makes them come back bigger and stronger than before," she interrupted impatiently.

"Right…see the thing is that when their blood mixes with a vampire's, it makes the vampire human again," Spike told her haltingly.

Reaching over to grab his wrist, Buffy didn't feel a pulse. "So it isn't you, obviously. Who is it? What about their lack of a soul?"

"I don't know about her soul; she's too distraught to be able to tell. As for who…"

"Don't tell me it's Harmony. I couldn't stand her as a human, and I doubt that being turned into a vamp and back again would change things. Besides, Angel already inflicted her-" Buffy whined.

"It's Dru," Spike stopped her mid-complaint. The gob smacked expression on her face gave him the opportunity to finish his plea, "I know there's a history between you two, but she needs help! Please, Slayer! She needs _you_!"

Buffy's eyes narrowed at his emphasis. "Why does she need me in particular?"

"She said during one of her semi-lucid moments that she needed my Sunshine. You're the only one she's ever referred to as Sunshine," he explained.

"But shouldn't she be uncomfortable around me?" she asked.

"You don't make her feel the guilt that she drowns in around me or the fear she's overwhelmed by near Angel. She says she'll be safe with you." The desperation in his voice was chipping away at her resistance.

"What am I supposed to do with her in a school of children?" she asked as a last resort.

"Use her to teach divination," Cole interjected. He had been sitting there quietly while the two had their discussion, but felt the time was right for him to add his two cents' worth. "She's a pretty good seer, but difficult to interpret. When she gives one of her visions, you can have Ava work through it with her classes," he suggested, mentioning their latest hire.

"She said the stars would talk to her more if she was with you," Spike added, sensing that Buffy was about to cave.

"I'm so going to regret this!" Buffy muttered. She turned to Cole and snipped, "This is payback for standing up to Piper in your defense, isn't it? A taste of my own medicine."

* * *

**Diagon Alley**

Two weeks prior, Buffy was going around to the different stores to get to know the storeowners. She wanted a good working relationship with them since it just made sense for the sake of the school. As much as she wanted to take a blowtorch to Knockturn Alley, she understood the need for a grey market. Didn't mean she wouldn't do all she could to get rid of the truly evil stuff in there, though.

She decided to check out one of the bookstores down that way when she saw a young woman coming out of the potion-supply store. A man stepped out of the shadows and approached her in a menacing manner. She quickly made her way over and clamped down on his wand wrist, tightening her grip to the point where he grunted in pain.

"Is there a problem here?" she asked softly.

"Not anymore," the young lady said with a grateful smile. The odd thing was she appeared to recognize Buffy, but Buffy didn't think she knew her, although she did look like a detective from the TV show, CSI: New York. "May I join you while you shop?" she requested.

At first Buffy thought it was because she was nervous about being accosted again, but as they walked, she found out differently.

"The cards told me that I was to seek you out. My name is Ava Nicolae, and I am the Shuvani of the Nicolae Gypsy clan," she explained. "I am new to the role of Shuvani, but grew up learning the magic of my ancestors."

"I'm sorry," Buffy interrupted her. "I have some experience with gypsies, but haven't heard the term Shuvani before. What is that?"

"High priestess," Ava clarified. "You know of gypsies?"

"I knew a member of the Kalderash clan," Buffy replied with a hint of pain showing in her response. "She was a good woman and a helpful ally."

"I'm sorry for your loss," Ava said sympathetically. The deaths of Teresa and Lydia weren't that distant, so she still felt the sharp pang of mourning when she allowed herself to think of them. Once the moment passed, she continued, "The spirits of my ancestors told me to embrace my heritage. For a time, I thought that meant creating a clinic for other gypsies. I'm a doctor, by the way.

"But when I did a Tarot reading, it made it clear that while the clinic was a noble cause, it was for others to continue. I was supposed to use my family's talents to help the magical world in a more magical way. A tea leaf reading showed me the Slayer's Scythe. I went to the Hellmouth first, but another reading led me here."

"So you're actually skilled in divination?" Buffy asked. "Can you explain how to interpret signs to others? I have a Divination professor right now, and while she seems to know the subject, all she does is drink sherry and predict the students' deaths. Not exactly the morale booster that you want in a boarding school."

"You can't teach somebody to have the gift of seeing the future," Ava warned. "You either have it or you don't. I have the gift to a limited degree; I wouldn't consider myself a seer. What I can do is interpret signs."

"I'm guessing that's what the class is for, interpreting sign. Like you said, you can't teach people to have visions, so there'd be no point in having a class for it," Buffy said.

Ava nodded. While she felt bad about leaving San Francisco before Piper had her baby, her destiny was calling her to be with the Slayer, and she was through fighting her destiny.

* * *

A/N: Seems like this is a good explanation for why Ava wasn't the gypsy to train Phoebe and Paige to be midwives.

Tomorrow…I have what I hope is an amusing candidate for Care of Magical Creatures (even more than Fester Addams).


	22. Ch 22: Aug 22 - CoMC Professor Eliza

**Chapter 22: August 22, 2014 – CoMC**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Warning: Crackish

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Ace Ventura, Pet Detective character belongs to Jack Bernstein and Morgan Creek Productions. Pokemon characters belong to Atsuhiro Tomioka and The Pokemon Company. The Wild Thornberrys characters belong to Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman. Stephen Sustarsic, Anivision. Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Hogwarts Grounds**

"Hagrid, can you explain to me again who that man is and why he's playing in the lake with the lake monster?" Buffy asked in exasperation.

"Blimey! He made friends with the Giant Squid!" Hagrid exclaimed in admiration. "I heard he was something of a Muggle legend, but this makes it easier to believe."

"Hagrid!" Buffy snapped, hoping to get the man's attention back to the matter at hand.

"His name is Ace Ventura, and he loves animals as much as I do," Hagrid gushed, giving the highest praise he could. "I asked him to come and see if he could find out what was wrong with my latest supply of flobberworms. I guess he decided to poke around a bit and found the Giant Squid."

The Giant Squid threw the man over to where Buffy and Hagrid were standing. Fortunately for Ace, Hagrid was able to catch him before he hit the ground. "Mr. Ventura, I'd like to introduce you to Hogwarts' first Muggle Headmistress, Buffy Summers."

"How do you do?" Ace asked in an over-exaggerated 'suave' fashion. "The flobberworms got into some bad dung," he said in an aside to Hagrid while still maintaining eye contact with Buffy. "You have rather interesting animals here."

"Do you have much experience with magical creatures, Mr. Ventura?" Buffy asked, thinking that she might be able to solve the issue of an assistant professor for Silvanus Kettleburn. One that might rein the eccentric old man in a little.

"This is my only time seeing any," Ace replied.

Buffy got a confused look on her face and asked, "Then how do you know what's wrong with the worms?"

"I tasted their food," Ace answered like it was the totally normal thing to do.

"You ate _dung_?" Buffy needed clarification, but not really wanting to hear it.

"Of course…how else would I know?"

She was going to ask him another question, but he began running towards Hagrid's hut, squawking like a bird and flapping his arms wildly.

"What's he doing now?" she asked Hagrid.

"Oh no, he's headed towards the hippogriffs' pen!" Hagrid cried in alarm. "Excuse me, Headmistress!"

* * *

**Japan**

While she was happy that Ace survived his encounter with the hippogriffs, she wanted to keep searching for a different assistant professor. Her search led her to the Kanto region of Japan. There she heard about a group of youths that roamed the countryside with an unusual species of animals that were hatched from or traveled in or whatever in mechanical balls.

She found a clinic that cared for these creatures – called Pokemon – and posted an ad. With any luck, she would find somebody who had experience in other forms of magical creatures as well.

Two days later, a guy with light purple hair and a girl with pink hair introduced themselves and their strange cat as Team Rocket. Instead of sitting down and talking like normal people, they chanted their motto:

_Prepare for teachy!  
And make it peachy!  
To protect the world from devastation!  
To instruct all people within our nation!  
To announce the creatures of truth and love!  
To fly on griffins to the stars above!  
Jesse!  
James!  
Team Rocket instructs at the speed of light!  
Write those notes now or prepare to fight!  
Meowth, that's right!_

"Do you always talk in rhyme?" Buffy asked, trying to ignore – for the moment – the fact she heard a cat talking. "'Cause that would get annoying in no time."

Instead of answering her, they saw a young boy walk by with a strange-looking yellow animal and went chasing after him.

"Thank goodness," she muttered.

* * *

**London**

Just as she was about to give up hope and reconsider hiring Ace Ventura, Buffy literally stumbled across the ideal CoMC professor. She was walking down one of the quieter streets on the outskirts of London one night, looking for a little slaying action when she overheard an odd conversation.

"I know you told me to take the last street, Darwin, but I felt something come down this way," a young woman's voice snapped.

Instead of a male voice answering her, Buffy heard a monkey's grunting reply.

Whatever the young woman said back wasn't in English like the first part, but also in monkey grunting.

Then the other voice started screeching in alarm. Buffy had to look around the corner at what the problem was and found her vampires. She snuck around behind them and staked them quick and quiet.

What followed was an awkward conversation where the woman tried to hide the fact she was talking to her hairy little companion – Darwin, presumably – and where Buffy tried to bluff her way out of explaining about vampires.

Darwin let the cat out of the bag on the 'talking to animals' issue when he complained to the woman about something or other.

Buffy could see the indecision on the woman's face about what to do, so she said, "Go ahead and answer Darwin." Still the woman didn't do anything and Buffy insisted, "I heard you talk to him a couple minutes ago."

She was surprised by the look of worry that crossed the woman's face. "You did? Darwin, do you still understand me?" she grunted to the chimpanzee. She breathed a sigh of relief when Darwin answered affirmatively.

"So you actually can talk to animals, huh?" Buffy asked, feeling a spark of excitement. Maybe, if this woman was smart, non-evil and looking for work, she'd have her assistant CoMC professor. She didn't even care that – once again – this person was barely older than the students she would be teaching. "By the way, I'm Buffy Summers."

"But I was warned that if I told anyone, I'd lose the ability," she murmured. "Eliza Thornberry," she added, holding out her hand to shake Buffy's.

"Thornberry? I think I remember an adventure show several years ago whose host's name was Thornberry. Can't remember the first name, though," Buffy admitted.

Eliza smiled at her and said, "That was my father, Nigel. He's had to retire now after a close call on one of his shoots. He survived, but was so badly injured that my mother, Marianne, insisted that he give up the life. He's a guest speaker at a bunch of colleges now."

"Is it just Darwin that you can talk to, or can you talk to other animals as well?" Buffy inquired. "I'm wondering because I need somebody to teach young students about animals at my school. There's a senior professor, but he's getting a little old and beat up, and I'd like to have a replacement trained before he's too far gone to teach anymore."

Eliza wasn't looking forward to going back to college like her parents wanted. She found it too confining. "Is it indoors or outdoors?" she asked.

"Outdoors," Buffy answered. "There is one other thing that you need to know, but since you can talk to animals, the fact that it's something weird shouldn't be a problem…necessarily.

Sure enough, Eliza was barely shocked by the news that magic was real. She was more surprised that she hadn't run into any magical creatures before.

"Darwin can come with me, right?" Eliza asked.

"Sure, why not?" Buffy answered. Couldn't be worse than the Addams' dismembered hand that ran around the Shrieking Shack and freaked people out when they visited.

* * *

A/N: The Pokemon Team Rocket motto was from DianeCastle's review last night. I almost painted myself into a corner with giving the job to Ace, but then a friend reminded me of the review that mentioned The Wild Thornberrys.

Tomorrow…How 'bout some science? Remember…they need to be able to teach pre-teens and teenagers. For example, as much as I would love Sheldon, there's no way he'd be able to put up with kids that young.


	23. Ch 23: Aug 23 - Science Professors

**Chapter 23: August 23, 2014 – Science**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: I'll put them in parentheses after the person's name

Warning: There are a LOT of sciencey people to get through. I 'narrowed' it down to 15!

A/N: In order to get in most of the suggestions, they'll all be really, really short.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Fantastic Four characters belong to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Marvel Comics, Constantin Film, Marvel Enterprises and 1492 Pictures. Back to the Future characters belong Robert Zemeckis, Bob Gale and Amblin characters belong to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / MGM and Gekko. Family Matters characters belong to William Bickley, Michael Warren and Warner Bros. Television. Sherlock characters belong to Mark Gatiss, Steven Moffat, Stephen Thompson and the BBC. X-Men characters belong to Stan Lee, Jack Kirby and Marvel Comics. MacGyver characters belong to Lee David Zlotoff, Henry Winkler-John Rich Productions, Paramount Network Television and CBS Television Distribution. The Magic School Bus character belongs to Joanna Cole, Bruce Degen, Nelvana Limited, South Carolina ETV and Scholastic Entertainment. Pinky and the Brain characters belong to Tom Ruegger, Warner Bros. Animation, Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television. Jimmy Neutron belongs to John A. Davis, O Entertainment, DNA Productions and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Dexter's Laboratory character belongs to Genndy Tartakovsky and Hanna-Barbera Productions. Bill Nye the Science Guy belongs to Bill Nye, James McKenna, Erren Gottlieb, KCTS Seattle, Rabbit Ears Productions and Walt Disney Television. Mythbusters belong to Peter Rees and Beyond Television Productions. Watch Mr. Wizard belongs to Don Herbert and NBC. TBBT characters belong to Chuck Lorre, Bill Prady and CBS. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Victor Von Doom (pre-movie) – Fantastic Four**

Buffy had to wonder why she was at Von Doom Industries…and to meet the CEO himself. All she was told was that it had to do with Hogwarts and that Victor Von Doom wanted to meet her personally. Somehow, it wouldn't surprise her if he turned out to be an evil scientist guy. His name practically paved the way for him.

Needless to say she was quite stunned when he came into the room. This guy could be Cole's twin brother!

"Ahh, Miss Summers! I hope you didn't have any trouble getting here," he said solicitously.

"No," she answered. "The taxi driver knew where it was as soon as I mentioned Von Doom Industries. Are you Victor?"

Although his grin tried to be as charming as Cole's, there was something lacking in it and the absence made her itch to pull out her Scythe. "I am. No doubt you are quite busy with your new duties, so I'll get right to the point. You need a science teacher and I'm willing to do it. In fact, I'll even offer a donation to the school so you can afford all the changes you have planned."

"You're giving us money so you can teach at Hogwarts? Can I ask why?" Buffy asked.

"Because Reed Richards has never done this. I won't have to share this spotlight with him," Victor replied in a rare show of truth. He just assumed that she was so desperate for funding that it didn't really matter why he wanted to be a teacher for a bunch of brats.

So it came as a bit of a shock to him when she stood up and said, "No, thank you," and walked out of his office.

* * *

**Doc Brown (post-trilogy) – Back to the Future**

"Buffy! You should go out onto the front lawn right away!" Walter suggested urgently.

"Has Cole come back from Von Doom Industries yet?" she asked as she passed her assistant's desk. They finally got the offices down to the front hall area so guests would have to go past them to get into the school.

"Not yet," Walter answered. "I'll tell him to find you when he does."

She walked out the doors and stopped in her tracks. "When did Hogwarts Express end its trip in our lawn?" she called out over her shoulder.

"It doesn't! That's the problem," Walter shot back.

With that in mind, Buffy carefully made her way up to the door of the engine cab. "Hello? Anyone non-evil in there?" she yelled.

A man with almost glow-in-the-dark white hair popped his head out of the window and yelled back, "We've made it! You must be Headmistress Summers!" He fiddled with something inside the cab which made the side split open vertically – like an old DeLorean car or something.

Normally, she'd say his clothing was dated, but in the Wizarding World, it was pretty much par for the course. "My name is Dr. Emmett Brown, and this is my lovely wife, Clara, and our two boys, Jules and Verne."

"Hello," Buffy replied. "Care to explain why you have a train in front of my school?"

"I discovered that Jules has the ability to use magic and wanted him to go to the right school at the right time in history to learn the proper way to harness that ability. After a few quick trips back and forth in time, I discovered that this time in Hogwarts' history is the best time for a student such as Jules to attend and still be able to learn about normal high school courses," he explained rapidly.

Buffy held up a finger to stop him. "Wait a minute…are you telling me you're a time traveler…and your method of travel is a steam engine train?" she asked incredulously.

"With the right modifications, it's the only way to travel if you want to go in style," Doc defended his machine.

"Huh," Buffy murmured as her mind tried to make sense of it all.

"If you'd like, I could tell you some things about your future," he offered.

"No, no, no," Buffy said with a shake of her head. "I've known my future before, and believe me, I much prefer the not knowing."

"Just as well; I've learned that the future isn't written in stone." Emmett helped his family get off the train, then said, "Now don't think that this is a one-way street. While Jules – and possibly Verne – attend Hogwarts, I'd be more than happy to teach here. I'm fairly good at science."

"You're wonderful at science!" Clara corrected her husband. "I was a teacher before we married, but a lot of what I knew back in 1885 is probably outdated now."

"We probably would be able to find something if you really wanted to help out," Buffy offered. Anyone who could build a time machine had to know enough about science to be able to teach wizards.

* * *

**Rodney McKay (Season 2ish) – Stargate Atlantis **

"I'm sorry, but I'm involved in something rather important to the world at the moment. Perhaps when I'm too old for that work, it would be interesting to try teaching," Dr. Rodney McKay declined Buffy's offer.

Walter had warned her that he probably would say no, but he seemed to think Dr. McKay's answer would be less polite. For the same reason she didn't approach Dr. Jackson, she wouldn't try Col. Carter. They just thought there might be a chance with Dr. McKay because he wouldn't enjoy his current assignment.

* * *

**Steve Urkel – Family Matters ****(la****te-series)**

Buffy was really happy that she opted to travel to America to meet with Steve Urkel about the science professor job. Why? Well, while she had no doubt he was a genius…mega-genius even, he was also a walking disaster area. Just crossing the room to shake hands with her, he tripped and started a chain reaction in the room that ended with a bowling ball flying up through the ceiling and breaking the bathtub that was overhead.

To make matters worse, somebody named Carl was taking a bath at the time, so the water gushed out of the broken tub and down through the hole, drenching both her and Steve.

"Did I do that?" he asked in a nasally voice.

* * *

**Sherlock Holmes – Sherlock **

After listening to Holmes drone on and on about how magic couldn't possibly be real…for over an hour, Buffy finally threw her hands up and said, "Sorry to bother you. I won't be making that mistake again in this lifetime!"

* * *

**Beast – X-Men**

"I have to warn you that some of the students might believe you are a magical creature at first," Buffy said to her newest interviewee.

"Believe me, that is one of the kinder things said about me since my mutation," Beast replied with a soft smile. "You understand that occasionally I will have to help out my fellow mutants if there is trouble."

"That's not a problem," Buffy assured him. "I plan leave for apocalypses, too. If you'd like the extra help, I'm sure we'd be glad to come along if we aren't needed elsewhere."

* * *

**MacGyver (post-series) – MacGyver**

"Do you have a cousin in the Air Force?" Buffy asked while she looked at former troubleshooter for the Phoenix Foundation. She also wondered how many doppelgangers she'd come across during her time at Hogwarts.

"A distant one, I believe," Mac answered. "To be honest, the only family member I was close to was my grandfather, Jackson."

"Well, it's uncanny how much you look alike," she explained. "So you already know about magic, right?"

"I've run into it once or twice over the years," he confirmed. "What exactly is it that you want me to teach again?"

"After hearing about some of your adventures, I think maybe 'Science for Real Life' or something," Buffy said. "You can teach the students – and some adults if you're willing – how basic knowledge of science can help you in a pinch."

* * *

**Ms. Frizzle (post-series) – Magic School Bus **

All it took was a trip in the Magic School Bus through the growth cycle of an acorn into a tree and back into an acorn, and Buffy offered Ms. Frizzle a job without any further questions, "If this is how you teach, I'd be willing to bet that even the most bigoted of pure-bloods would be willing to learn science from a Muggle. You're sure you aren't a witch?" she double-checked.

"No, it's all the bus," Ms. Frizzle assured her. "It was a gift from my aunt Mary. It _will_ be safe for Liz, won't it?"

* * *

**Brain – Pinky and the Brain**

"You _do_ know you're a mouse, don't you?" Buffy asked. "You are a mouse, right, and not a human changed into a mouse through magic?"

"I am the result of genetic manipulation," Brain intoned pompously. "The ultimate success in increasing the intelligence of any creature!"

"Narf!" Pinky interjected.

"And him?" Buffy asked with a raised eyebrow.

"One of the failures," Brain replied.

* * *

**Jimmy Neutron & Dexter's Laboratory**

"While you're both adorable and extremely smart, I can't have a teacher that is younger than the students. Bad enough to have one that looks younger, but to _physically_ be younger? I couldn't get the board to agree to that," Buffy said to child prodigies, Jimmy Neutron and Dexter Something-or-other.

* * *

**Bill Nye – Bill Nye the Science Guy **

Buffy was getting flashbacks to her 'interview' with Sherlock Holmes as she listened to Bill Nye try to find a scientific explanation for the existence of magic. While he might know science, she didn't think he'd fit in that well at Hogwarts.

* * *

**Adam, Jamie, Tory, Kari & Grant – Mythbusters**

Impressed by the demonstration of their hwacha – an ancient Korean weapon that could fire up to 200 rocket-propelled arrows at once – Buffy knew she'd have to get the Mythbusters to come to Hogwarts at least for some more demonstrations of what science could do in the right hands.

"Thank you for meeting me," Buffy said, sorry that their schedules were too busy to allow them to take on teaching jobs. Maybe in a few years or so things might change.

* * *

**Mr. Wizard (way post-series) – Watch Mr. Wizard**

Buffy was shocked to learn that not only was Mr. Wizard still alive, but that he was none other than Nicolas Flamel! The name was a little joke that he played on the producers of the 1950s educational show.

Unlike other wizards, he and his wife believed the best way to not have trouble with the non-magical world was to become part of it. And Nicolas did that by learning all about science and then taught millions of children via television.

He and his wife were more than happy to come to Hogwarts to teach the magical children the same.

* * *

**Dr. Arthur Jefferies aka Professor Proton (before he showed up on TBBT) – The Big Bang Theory **

"So you're telling me magic is real," Dr. Jefferies stuttered out once Buffy explained about Hogwarts and her need of a science teacher. "Not just card tricks and illusions, but really real."

"Uh-huh," she confirmed. "Now I know that it was too much for Bill Nye to take in, but I'm hoping-"

"You couldn't get Bill Nye to believe you?" Jefferies interrupted her.

"More like he wasn't willing to accept that there are things that science can't explain," Buffy said.

"Well, I can be more open-minded than that thief!" Jefferies declared. "Sign me up for Hocus Pocus School!"

* * *

A/N: I have no clue what Bill Nye's opinion on magic is, but a friend suggested that he wouldn't like something that science couldn't explain. The thief comment during the last section is from 'The Proton Displacement' in season 7.

Teachers hired:

Doc Brown; Beast; MacGyver; Ms. Frizzle; Mr. Wizard (Nicolas Flamel); Dr. Arthur Jefferies; Mythbusters - guest lecturers

Tomorrow…Not sure yet. I was too overwhelmed by the suggestions for this chapter to think much about tomorrow's.

Teachers hired:

Doc Brown

Beast

MacGyver

Ms. Frizzle

Mr. Wizard (Nicolas Flamel)

Dr. Arthur Jefferies

Mythbusters – guest lecturers


	24. Ch 24: Aug 24 - School Finances

**Chapter 24: August 24, 2014 – School Finances**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: during the summer after Buffy became Headmistress

A/N: Since people have been asking, I've decided to address the question of how Buffy is funding her changes to Hogwarts.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. The Wild Thornberrys characters belong to Arlene Klasky, Gábor Csupó, Steve Pepoon, David Silverman. Stephen Sustarsic, Anivision. Klasky Csupo and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. The Addams Family characters belong to Charles Addams, Filmways and MGM Television (through The Program Exchange). Sabrina, the Teenage Witch character belongs to Nell Scovell and Viacom Productions. Star Trek character belongs to Gene Roddenberry, CBS and Paramount Pictures. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**1. Reparations**

**Wizengamot chambers**

Buffy watched while Willow – and Giles, her undersecretary – bulldozed their way past the complaints of the pure-bloods so they could pass a reparations law specific to the current war. Basically it said that if anyone was convicted of being a Death Eater or willingly and knowingly providing support to the Death Eaters or Voldemort, they would have to pay substantial fines. Those fines would be distributed between St. Mungos Hospital (40%), the Ministry of Magic (20%) and Hogwarts (40%).

The severity of the fines depended just how much support they provided. For example, a shopkeeper that willingly sold/bought items to/from the Death Eaters would be fined 75% of the item sold or bought or a years' worth of Hogwarts expenses for two first year students – whichever was greater. But if it was a Death Eater who tortured/killed, they would have to pay for seven years' tuition for each count of torture or murder.

There were some safety measures built in to keep from bankrupting a family or causing them undue financial hardship. If they had no dependents, their entire estate could be seized to pay the fines. This was only available because in order to reach that level, the person would have to be convicted of such heinous crimes that they would be locked up for the rest of their lives or executed and wouldn't need their estate again.

If they had family, no more than 40% could be seized at the highest bracket. The brackets were determined by the level of wealth. That meant that if two Death Eaters with an equal number of counts against them were convicted, but one was in the lowest bracket, they'd keep 75% of their net worth and the highest bracket would keep 40%.

To convince enough of the pure-bloods to agree, those fines couldn't be forced onto other family members. So if the elder son of an old family controlled the family vaults and the younger son was a Death Eater, the family vaults were safe unless the elder son was also convicted.

The law passed by one vote.

* * *

**2. ****Acromantulas**

**Forbidden Forest**

It took the collective efforts of Fester, Hagrid and Eliza to explain to the giant spiders that it was in their best interest to accept the restrictions of a silk farm.

As long as the spiders remained within the borders of their part of the forest, they wouldn't be hunted. In exchange for their silk, they would be fed non-sentient animals. That part would be determined by Eliza since she was the only one who could speak to the various animals chosen.

If any of the spiders left the farm, they were to be put to death on sight. If they needed to get a message to their caretakers, there was an assigned spot near the border of the farm where they could leave it. The caretakers would visit that site at least twice a week; more often if needed.

It wasn't until they were told that Eliza found their greatest enemy and had befriended it that they grudgingly agreed.

* * *

**3. Potions**

**Potions Lab**

Snape's reputation while in school was already impressive, but with the additional help of Dawn and getting his own labtop, he was quickly closing in on become a legend in the field of Potions. His potions were more potent, cost less and took less time to prepare in most cases. In short, he could brew 24/7 and still not be able to keep up with all the demand for his potions.

By the end of the school year, his earnings from the sale of potions were more than ten times his wages as Hogwarts' Potions Master. The fines levied against him for providing support to Voldemort were paid in full and he had a nice nest egg started for when he felt it was safe to leave Hogwarts.

The school's take was the equivalent of 35% of the salaries to be paid to the staff…including the new hires. And that percentage was bound to grow over the years.

* * *

**4. Basilisk**

**Chamber of Secrets**

The great enemy that convinced the Acromantulas to behave was Slytherin's ancient pet snake…the Basilisk that was contained in the Chamber of Secrets.

During one of his outdoor security checks of the school grounds, Worf noticed a tunnel leading from the Forbidden Forest to under the school. He took a team with him to investigate the tunnel and the tunnel included Hagrid, Cole and Eliza.

When she heard the hissing of the Basilisk, Eliza talked to it to determine if it was a threat before they cleared the cave-in separating them. Saundra – the Basilisk's name – said that she could filter her eyes so her gaze wouldn't kill or petrify them. She begged them for a substantial meal because it had been decades since her last decent feeding.

A couple cows later, the team felt it was safe enough to enter the chamber and be face-to-face with the great beast.

Interestingly enough, she didn't like the males of the group, but she practically adopted Eliza as her Mistress. Apparently it wasn't Salazar who owned Saundra during the time of the Founders, but his daughter, Peigi. Since Peigi planned that when she died, Saundra would protect the school and its students, so her name was deemed appropriate for Saundra meant 'defender of mankind'.

To help her new mistress, Saundra offered up her shed skins, venom and fangs (when they fell out to make room for the new ones) as ingredients for potions or wandmaking. As the only known 'tame' Basilisk in existence, those ingredients were quite rare, and therefore worth quite a bit of money for Hogwarts because Eliza insisted that she would only take 10% of the proceeds and the rest should go towards improving the school.

* * *

A/N: If anyone can think of other ways to pay for the upgrades/new hires, let me know and I'll try to write them into this chapter.

Tomorrow…How 'bout Charms and/or Transfiguration? I am keeping Flitwick and McGonagall, but those classes need a second teacher, too.


	25. Ch 25: Aug 25 - Transfiguration Prof

**Chapter 25: August 25, 2014 – Transfiguration**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: pre-movie, making it AU

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Sorcerer's Apprentice characters belong to Doug Miro, Carlo Bernard, Matt Lopez, Walt Disney Pictures, Jerry Bruckheimer Films, Saturn Films and Broken Road. Charmed characters belong to Constance M. Burge and the WB. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Buffy's office**

"So my assistant, Walter, tells me that you have a favor to ask?" Buffy said to her guest; a scruffy, sorta homeless-looking guy.

"Yes, but you may want to call your deputy here so he can verify my claims," the man suggested. "I'll tell you right now that his demon name and my first name are quite similar."

"Okay, thanks for the head's up. Scooby!" she called out. When the house elf appeared, she said, "Scooby, I need you to find Deputy Cole, please. Tell him to come to my office as soon as he can."

"Yes, Mistress Buffy," Scooby replied eagerly, then popped back out.

"Scooby?" her guest inquired.

"Inside joke for me and my friends."

Cole must have been in his office because he knocked on her door just then. "You wanted to see me, Buffy?" he asked.

"Yes, Cole. This man suggested that you be part of this meeting so you could tell me he's not crazy," Buffy said.

"Never said I wasn't crazy," the man interjected. "Just that what I'm about to tell you is the truth." He held out his hand to Cole and said, "My name is Balthazar Blake."

Cole's eyes widened. "The Merlinean?"

"The whateein?" Buffy asked.

"He was one of Merlin's apprentices," Cole explained. "There were two major factions of sorcerers and sorceresses in ancient England: the Merlineans – named after Merlin – and the Morganians – named after his student and later his enemy, Morgana le Fay."

"What does this have to do with us?" Buffy wanted to know.

"Just before Merlin died, he gave me the task of finding the Prime Merlinean. That person would be the only one capable of destroying Morgana for good. Right now she's trapped in a Grimhold. Once I find the Prime Merlinean, I need to train him or her until they are competent enough in their abilities to defeat her and the other Morganians that are trapped."

"Just curious about something before we get any further," Buffy interrupted. "Should you be sharing this much information with complete strangers? Especially one that you obviously know is part-demon?"

"You're a Slayer; Slayers are always a force for good when the world is at stake," Balthazar answered. "Besides, I doubt any of this is really news to Belthazor."

"I prefer to go by Cole these days," Cole corrected the sorcerer. "He's right, though, Buffy. I already know all this, and I can guess why he's here." When Balthazar gestured for him to continue, he did, "He's here to test the dragon ring on the students; see if any of them is the Prime."

"You got it," Balthazar agreed. "I know the chances are slim – mostly because I've been looking for many centuries now – but I need to try."

"Is there any danger to the students?" Buffy asked.

"Only if they are the Prime and there are Morganians around to witness the dragon ring accepting him or her."

"Then I suppose it will be okay…if they agree. I won't have you forcing anyone to try it," Buffy warned him. "I'll have them called down here by house, year and gender. That way they won't have to sit around and wait a long time."

"I'll tell Walter to send notices to the teachers and house common rooms with the house elves," Cole offered.

"Thanks." She turned to look at Balthazar and said, "This will take a day or two. Do you have a place to stay or should I have an elf make up one of the VIP suites for you?"

"If you don't mind, I'd prefer to stay here," Balthazar requested.

"When you are out of your rooms, you will have an escort. If we find you in the castle or on the castle grounds unescorted, you will be taken into custody. Understand?" Buffy calmly told him. While it sounded like he was a good guy, he was still a stranger and she would treat him like any other visitor to the school would be treated.

After all, her teachers had to be vetted before she actually allowed them into the school. 'Trust but verify' was the motto she kept in mind when it came to her students' safety. Speaking of which, she'd contact Giles and Willow later to check out Balthazar's history a little more. Maybe make sure the guy claiming to be him actually was him.

* * *

**Teacher's lounge**

**Next day…**

Buffy watched in bemusement as Balthazar collapsed onto the couch across from her. She nodded to Worf that she would escort Balthazar back to his suite after they talked. "No luck?"

He sighed, "No…and can I say that some of these children have _serious_ entitlement issues? They believed that just because they wanted to be the Prime Merlinean, the dragon ring could be forced into choosing them. Two of them even tried to bribe me…like I somehow had any control over the matter and was just waiting for the last 1,270 years for somebody to offer me money."

Laughing, Buffy said, "Yeah, after reading a little about your story, I'd be willing to bet that those people who thought they could buy the ring would actually be more suited to being Morgana's followers than Merlin's."

"Did you have some kind of surveillance in the rooms?" Balthazar asked in surprise. "They droned on and on about how their bloodlines went back to Merlin's time – which they're wrong; their family names aren't that old in England – and that's why it should be obvious – even to a servant like me – that they are the rightful heir to his powers."

There was a knock on the door, and then it opened. Lily Potter stuck her head inside and asked, "Is Professor Flitwick here? He said he wanted to speak with me about something?"

Buffy glanced at the clock and replied, "No, but he should be here in a few minutes if you'd like to wait."

"Well, I've got my son, Harry, with me…" Lily trailed off doubtfully.

"It's fine; come on in," Buffy welcomed her. "How are you doing now that Pettigrew's in Azkaban?"

"Still stunned that he would betray us like that. I keep thinking that I should have seen it before, but looking back, I can't find that deciding piece of evidence," Lily answered.

"That's why successful betrayers are able to do what they do," Balthazar remarked wisely. "Until they commit their act of betrayal, they offer no major clues beforehand."

"I'm sorry, have we met?" Lily asked.

"Lily Potter, this is Balthazar Blake, the last Merlinean. Balthazar, this is Lily Potter. She's a recent graduate of Hogwarts," Buffy handled the introduction.

Balthazar got a calculating look in his eyes. "Really? Would you consider holding a tiny, metal dragon for me for a second, Mrs. Potter?"

"Excuse me?"

He explained about the dragon ring and despite not expecting anything to come out of it, Lily agreed to hold it. Sure enough, she held it for over two minutes before he sighed in resignation and reached out to grab it from her. When he did, he accidentally knocked it into Harry's stroller.

That's when things got crazy.

The dragon came to life and wove itself around little Harry's wrist (since his fingers were too small for a ring).

"What does this mean?" Lily demanded.

"It means that your son has a destiny, Mrs. Potter," Balthazar answered. He started murmuring to himself, "He's too young to begin training yet, but he needs to be kept safe."

"You better not be thinking about taking him from his parents," Buffy warned him, looking very much like a pissed off Slayer at that moment.

"Not at all," he assured both of them – even though that had been his initial instinct. Given the protective ring of people around the boy, it probably would be better to leave him where he was. "But I do need to stay close by so that when he's old enough to begin training, we can start right away. And I need to protect him from any new followers of Morgana that might wish to do him harm." He looked at Buffy and said, "Hey, you're looking for teachers, aren't you? Why don't I teach here until he's ready?" he suggested.

"Well, I do still have some magical positions left to fill…specifically Charms and Transfiguration," Buffy admitted.

Having walked in just as Buffy said the last bit, Flitwick spoke up, "Actually, I was hoping to convince Lily to assume the position of my Charms apprentice/assistant professor."

"Even better!" Balthazar exclaimed. "Then Harry would be living in the castle as well and I would be part of his life before he becomes my apprentice."

"Assuming I take the job and James agrees to us living here," Lily reminded them. She paused for a moment, then admitted, "Although, he did just mention last night that he worries about us when he's working, and if he knew we were some place safe, he and Sirius could probably accept assignments that require them to be away overnight without tearing himself up about leaving us in danger."

She nodded slowly, "Okay, I'll talk to him tonight and see if he can meet you tomorrow. If he's okay with it, I'll accept Professor Flitwick's offer and we'll see about the apprentice issue when it actually becomes an issue."

"Fair enough," Balthazar agreed. He knew in the end that Harry's parents wouldn't have a choice in the matter…not if they wanted him to survive.

* * *

A/N: Since I took one destiny from Harry, I thought it only fair to give him a new one. Instead of being the Boy-Who-Lived, he's now the Prime Merlinean.

Tomorrow…Numbers of some kind (Math, Arthimancy, Economics, Personal Finance, etc.)


	26. Ch 26: Aug 26 - Math Prof Fleinhardt

**Chapter 26: August 26, 2014 – Math**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: mid-series-ish for Numb3rs.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. I don't own Numb3s characters. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**CalSci cafe**

Buffy took another sip of her mocha latte and continued her rant to Willow over the phone, "I'm telling you, Willow, I've sat in on this Charlie Epps guy's class, and while he is like you-and-Giles-combined brilliant, that also could be a reason to remove him from the list. On top of that, I overheard a conversation that happened to include our other _criteria_," she stressed, knowing that she was in public and needed to speak in euphemisms, "And trust me, he wouldn't accept our truths; his mind would be blow into tiny pieces. Tweak the _search engine_ and try again."

After she hung up, a shadow stopped behind her, looming like a sign of danger. Praying that it wasn't a daytime monster – or worse, one of those lawyer weenies from Wolfram & Hart – she twisted in her seat…only to find a rather angry-looking man in a suit breathing heavy while he glared at her.

"Sorry, is this your favorite table or something?" she quipped. What the hell was his problem?

"You need to come with me," he ordered.

Buffy snorted, "Yeah…I don't think so. See, I went to school when we learned all about 'Stranger Danger' and everything, so go away."

"That wasn't a request," he insisted. "My name is Agent Don Eppes of the FBI, and I'm taking you in for questioning."

"Really? On what charges?" she inquired. So far this talent search trip had been light on the slaying, so she doubted that anyone saw her with somebody that later 'disappeared' or whatever.

"Stalking," he growled.

"And just who is it that I'm stalking?" she asked.

He pointed across the café to where the genius she just checked out was sitting with his TA. And if they weren't dating, she'd eat her stake. "Dr. Charles Eppes."

"I take it there's a relation, or is the name Eppes more common than I thought?" Buffy wondered aloud, still not moving, which pissed him off even more.

"Please stand up," he bit out, refusing to give her any more ammunition for whatever sick fantasy/cult she had in mind for his little brother.

"Wow, CalSci really must hate headhunters if they call in the FBI every time somebody comes to check out their professors for a job," Buffy muttered softly, but not softly enough to be unheard by Don.

"Headhunter?" he asked in a less threatening tone.

"Yeah. It's not totally unheard of in most of the world. In fact, I've hired a couple dozen teachers for a boarding school overseas and this is the first time I've ever gotten this reception," Buffy explained, handing Don her Muggle business card, which showed the name of Hogwarts' new alias in the Muggle world so their students could give an actual name when asked where they went.

Don stared at her as if to judge her honesty, then waved at his brother before sitting down across from her. "So the sitting in on his classes and following him to this café, not to mention that conversation I just overheard…was about a job?"

Buffy ticked off her supposed crimes as she explained them, "Sitting in on his classes…kinda need to do that to see if he can teach our kids. By the way, I don't think so because we need middle/high school math teachers and he's…not. 'Following him' to this café…it's the café closest to the class that just ended; kinda was planning to come here whether he did or not. My conversation with our talent search committee? They should have known better to pick a 'beautiful mind' candidate for me to look at. I'm sure he's awesome at the math stuff, but some of our classes require a more…open mind when it comes to the universe as a whole and sadly, I just don't see him having one. What I saw was a guy who couldn't accept something if it couldn't be explained by his numbers or science."

"Religious school?" Don asked, knowing full well that she pretty much had his brother pegged.

"Mmm, more…spiritual, I'd say," Buffy hedged. Her phone chirped and it was Willow texting her another name. "Will I get in trouble if I go check out a Dr. Lawrence Fleinhardt? Or is it only people interested in your brother that get the FBI welcome?"

"Sorry about that, he had a problem awhile back and so he's a little on edge about people showing too much interest in him," Don apologized, ignoring the fact that he also jumped on her for her interest. "As a way of making it up to you, I'll walk you to Larry's office. And just so you know, he has a much more open mind about spirituality and stuff than Charlie."

After she talked to Dr. Fleinhardt – Larry, he insisted during their introduction – Buffy was cautiously optimistic about the guy. He was also scary brilliant, but he also had the ability to break down the subject into terms that were so basic that she thought she might have understood a thing or two he was saying.

She'd still have to broach the whole 'magic is real' issue with him, but he admitted that he was feeling out of place at the university and wouldn't mind a change of pace…even if it meant teaching middle and/or high school students.

But first, she needed to get a witch to join her to handle that part of the demonstration.

* * *

A/N: Sorry this was so short, I was up against the clock again. Tuesdays suck this year.

Tomorrow…Not sure. Ideas?


	27. Ch 27: Aug 27 - Finances Prof Garrett

**Chapter 27: August 27, 2014 – Finances**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: post-season 4 for TFoL; changing a little of Eastland Academy's storyline.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. The Facts of Life characters belong to Dick Clair, Jenna McMahon, Columbia Pictures Television and Sony Pictures Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Buffy's office**

"So, Anya, I know that you've been looking for something to do while Xander handles the castle renovations," Buffy started her pitch to her friend the week after she took over as headmistress of Hogwarts. "I've tried to go over the school's finances, but it's a mess and quite honestly, I'm not sure how they've managed to keep the doors open. I know the Ministry has supposedly promised to help with any 'reasonable' costs incurred to make changes, but I think that's politician speech for 'what _I_ think is reasonable, not what actually is necessary'."

Anya's eyes brightened at the mention of money, then turned calculating – no pun intended – as she considered ways to ensure the school's survival. It was doubtful that Buffy would allow her to turn it into a money-making venture…unless she could put in terms that seemed financially conservative. Maybe telling Buffy they should have a backup cushion in case they have lean years, tuition-wise? "And you want me to be in charge of the school's money?" she double-checked.

Buffy nodded. "It will take money to bring in more teachers – which I think is vitally important – both for the current staff's sanity, as well as providing the students the kind of education they deserve…without bankrupting the families," she added, just in case Anya got the idea to increase tuition to an insane amount.

"Well, the first place to start would be considering our resources and what we could use for either barter or to sell," Anya began, her mind going full-steam now. "For example, does the school use all the plant material in the greenhouses or could we sell the surplus? I'll have a better idea after I look over the books," she promised.

True to her word, Anya had a couple ideas by the weekend, including the idea of using the criminal system to get them funds from the Death Eaters by fining them for their activities.

Another idea she had that they'd institute during the next school year was providing an in-school commissary where the students could buy extra school supplies and other products not available during the school year that they might miss – especially the Muggle-born ones. It might not be a cash cow for them, but it would at least help the morale of the students, which was always a good thing.

* * *

**Peekskill, NY**

A week after her girls graduated – and Mrs. Garrett did think of them as hers, regardless of the fact she didn't give birth to them – she had an overwhelming sense of empty-nest syndrome. To make matters worse, they found out that Eastland wouldn't be open again come fall. The school was hemorrhaging money, and rather than wait until it would cost money to get rid of it, the board decided to sell it now to a private land developer.

It left Edna Garrett with a profound sense of loss and uselessness.

That changed when she got a visit from an impeccably-dressed couple one day.

"Hello, Mrs. Garrett. My name is Buffy Summers and this is my colleague, Cole Turner. We are the head and deputy head of a boarding school in Scotland. Mr. Parker at Eastland gave you an incredible recommendation when we asked for caring, involved and competent faculty members."

"You're looking for a dietician?" Mrs. Garrett asked.

"No," Buffy replied, shaking her head. "We have a full kitchen and janitorial staff, but one of the things that Mr. Parker stressed was your ability to work miracles with your budget. Another was how you could turn practically anything into a teachable moment for the students."

"We have a home economics class and a teacher to show the kids how to cook, but we also thought that an important part of the class should be personal finance. There's a teacher for the students who have 'old money' and all, but we'd also like to have somebody teach the rest of them how to handle their money when they are on their own for the first time," Cole took over the explanation.

"Teaching?" Mrs. Garrett asked in wonderment. "_Formal_ teaching?"

"These kids need someone who cares about them and can teach them right from wrong," Buffy pleaded. "A good number of them come from families who only care about who their children will marry, and if they are the 'right sort' of people or not. We'd like to teach them that while family is important, it's more important to be your own person, and hopefully make the world a better place."

"You're talking my language," Mrs. Garrett responded with wet eyes. She'd found her purpose again for a whole new generation of children.

* * *

A/N: I know a few people mentioned Tony Stark/Bruce Wayne, but despite being billionaires, I kinda doubt that they handle their own finances – even their personal finances.

Tomorrow…Hmm, since people are talking about Filch, I think I'll tackle that position next. I wanna say that I need about 5 or so people to work on Worf's security staff besides Hagrid. I've never attended a boarding school, so I'm not sure how big their security staff should be (just know that it shouldn't include students to carry most of the patrolling).


	28. Ch 28: Aug 28 - Security Suggestions

**Chapter 28: August 28, 2014 – Security Suggestions**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: after all the mentioned staff members joined the school for the story; at the end of the NCIS episode _'Spider and the Fly'_

A/N: I did it again, I'm posting something out of turn, but I didn't give myself enough time to write all the different possible staff people, so I thought I'd start with the ways they could protect the kids.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Star Trek character belongs to Gene Roddenberry, CBS and Paramount Pictures. Stargate SG-1 character belongs to Robert C. Cooper and Brad Wright / SyFy Channel. The Sentinel characters belong to UPN, Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo. Leverage characters belong to John Rogers, Chris Downey, and TNT. NCIS characters belong to Donald Bellisario, Don McGill and CBS Paramount Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Worf's office**

"What's the problem, Worf?" Buffy asked as she entered the room.

"This…student attacked one of his classmates on the stairs. The other student is in the infirmary being treated for his wounds," Worf recited.

"It was just a stinking junior Death Eater," the student muttered.

"Are you claiming that the boy you attacked was a Death Eater," Buffy asked. "Or did you attack him because one or both of his parents were?"

The boy remained silent until Worf yelled at him, "Answer her!"

He petulantly answered, "His father."

Buffy pinched her nose in frustration. There were other instances of students hexing each other – on both sides – but reading Worf's report, this was the most serious of them. They had to stop before somebody died.

"Alright, I'm contacting your parents and informing them to come pick you up. You're suspended until the end of the year. If anything like this happens again next year, you will be expelled. Mr. Worf, please escort him to his dorm and watch him pack his belongings. Then bring him to my office to wait for his parents," Buffy requested.

* * *

Once the student had left the school with his upset parents, Buffy sat down and talked to any of her staff that had military to police training to discuss what measures they could set up to avoid this situation in the future.

"The way I see it, these wands are just another form of weapon; one they receive without any training," Jon O'Neill started. "I get that's what school's for, but still…you wouldn't allow an 11 year old to walk around with a handgun, much less before you instruct them in gun safety."

"True," Buffy agreed. "Problem is that they need them for a lot of their classes."

"If I may offer a suggestion," Worf interjected. "If I had a security staff to patrol the halls, they could secure and carry the wands from one classroom to the next one that required them. And at the end of the day, they could be locked up. If they need them outside of class in order to do homework, they could practice in a chaperoned classroom."

"And any student caught outside of class with a wand will be suspended for the first warning and expelled for the second one," Buffy said, finishing Worf's idea. "I may have a fight to get the Board to agree to this rule, but I'd rather piss them off than have parents pick up the body of their child."

"There need to be stricter bullying guidelines, and they need to be enforced no matter who it is doing the bullying," Jim Ellison made his recommendation.

Buffy shook her head and said, "I know what you mean. It's crazy some of the things students have gotten away with in the past and expect to get away with again."

"Until the war and its aftermath have settled down, I'd have security people patrolling the halls 24/7," Eliot Spencer added. "Teams of two: one magical and one non-magical. Maybe working six hour shifts. With a school this size, probably two teams at night; three during the day. Plus a team for the grounds."

"Hope you know where we can get that many people," Buffy commented, shaking her head as she added up the numbers. "Twenty-eight people, half of them non-magical, but able to work in a magical environment…that's a tall order."

"I was thinking it would be more difficult to find 14 magical security people you could trust," Jim remarked a bit cynically.

"The first one needs to be Hagrid," Buffy answered. "Now that we now about the Basilisk and that it was the creature most likely to have killed the student during Hagrid's time, we need to get him cleared of his supposed crime and get him a new wand so he can actually perform magic if need be."

* * *

**Stillwater, PA**

While they were cleaning up the general store, Gibbs noticed some papers on the counter and set down his crowbar so he could read them. "You're selling the store, Pop?" he asked his dad.

"Yup," Jackson answered. "I'm not blaming you or anything, so don't get that fool notion in your head, but as long as people know I'm your father, they can use me as leverage against you. I don't want it on your hands that next time you have to make a decision you don't want to."

"I never thought you'd leave Stillwater," Gibbs admitted. Even after he retired from NCIS, he'd still have his fair share of enemies. Secretly, he was relieved that his dad would be out of harm's way, but he was also worried about where his dad would go and if they'd grow apart again.

"A friend of a friend offered me a job running a general store in a different small community far away from here," Jackson explained. "I was already planning to go, but this mess made me move up my plans some."

* * *

When Gibbs got back to NCIS the following week, he was called into Director Vance's office. With him were the Secretary of the Navy and a couple people he didn't recognize. "You wanted to see me, Director?" he asked.

Vance looked like somebody peed in his coffee then made him drink it. "I did, Agent Gibbs. An investigation was made into this latest mess with the Reynosa family. The conclusion was that while it was an acceptable outcome this time, you have become too much of a liability to NCIS. I'm sorry, Jethro, but I need to ask for your gun and your badge."

Gibbs could see that it was tearing Vance up, and that he didn't agree with the decision, so he nodded curtly and pulled them off his belt. "Anything else?" he asked with more calm than he felt at the moment.

"As long as you remain retired from public service, this will be listed as a mutual decision. Can say that you wanted to retire to spend more time with your aging father or something," the Secretary offered as a consolation prize. "Just don't try to join another agency, state or federal."

"Understood. Will that be all?" Gibbs replied stoically.

"You're dismissed, Gibbs," Vance said, guessing that Gibbs needed to get out before he lost his temper. Bad enough that the rest of his team would be upset beyond measure, but it would be even worse if Gibbs caused a stir before he left.

* * *

It took Gibbs longer than he wanted to escape NCIS – and he doubted that it would be long before his people showed up to continue their rants – so he quickly called his father when he got home.

"Hey, Pop? Need any help running that store?" Gibbs asked. He explained about his 'retirement' and that while he was unhappy about how it came about, the Secretary's words did strike a chord with him. Jackson wouldn't be around forever and Gibbs would like to make the most of the time they had left.

"Sure do," Jackson answered. "There's a couple things we need to talk about first, and

I'll have to get approval for you coming with. I'll explain it when you get here."

* * *

A/N: So we have one new security person today. This was the only scene I had fully formed in my mind when I started writing this chapter.

Tomorrow…Continuing with security people. Remember, I don't know a lot of anime.


	29. Ch 29: Aug 29 - Security Personnel

**Chapter 29: August 29, 2014 – Security Personnel**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: shortly after season 3, episode 2 _'In Birth and Death'_ for CM; season 6, episode 8 _'The War at Home'_ for L&O: CI

A/N: I'm only covering a few of the security positions this time. Maybe by next year, I'll figure out who the rest of the non-magical people will be and have time to watch the shows/movies necessary to understand who their characters are.

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Criminal Minds characters belong to Jeff Davis, The Mark Gordon Company and CBS. Law & Order: Criminal Intent characters belong to Dick Wolf, NBC and USA Network. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Diner in the middle of nowhere**

Jason Gideon noticed the two young women as soon as they entered. Both blonde, young, attractive, but one had the presence of being prey while the other was most certainly a predator. Question was: what kind of predator?

Apparently he was about to find out.

They came directly over to where he was sitting at the counter, despite the diner being almost empty. "Jason Gideon?" the dangerous one asked. It made him long for the days when he still had his FBI badge and gun.

"How can I help you?" he replied without confirming his identity for them.

"My name is Buffy Summers and this is my friend and colleague, Tara Maclay. We'd like to hire you for our school's security force," she said without any small talk, catching him off-guard.

What were the chances those names were real? And what did they really want him for? And… "How did you find me?" Gideon asked.

Buffy smiled and said, "You might not believe us, but to be honest…magic."

"Not the stage kind with rabbits and hats, but real magic," Tara added. The way she spoke indicated a submissive personality, and the way she hesitated at certain words made him think she used to speak with a stutter, but was trying to control it.

"Real magic, huh?" he drawled, attempting to read their reactions and ascertain their real motives. "Why me?"

"We have a powder keg of a situation at our school and we need security people who know how to keep it from blowing up," Buffy answered honestly. "See, they just had a nasty civil war and both sides had students attending school together. Now that the war is 'over', they are having a hard time cooling back down."

"Is there a reason why when you talk about the school, you include yourself in the group dynamic, but when speaking about the society as a whole you don't?" Gideon inquired.

Buffy smiled again; he was good. "Think of these people as an aboriginal tribe with a small-to-moderate amount of contact with the outside world. They have their own ways of doing things and apparently one of those ways is that whoever is responsible for ending the civil takes over key positions in their leadership – even if they are an outsider like myself and my friends."

"And this is a magical community," he guessed.

"It is," Buffy confirmed. "Unfortunately, it seems like depending on magic that much has robbed them of their ability to be logical. Some of the things they do make you wonder if they have any common sense at all!"

"You really believe what you're saying, don't you?" Gideon asked, torn between pitying them and feeling concerned that they were clearly delusional.

"We aren't delusional, and we can prove it," Buffy said. "Tell us a place you want to see, and Tara will take us there. All I ask is that you don't ask us to pop in anywhere that people will point guns at us, please?"

He thought for a moment, then said, "My cabin. It's over 500 miles away from here."

"I'll need to see it on a map since it isn't a place I've been to before," Tara said. One thing she really liked about the wand magic was their ability to teleport themselves with minimal effort. Made moving around a lot easier.

Seconds after he showed them, Gideon found himself back in his safe place…the place that used to be safe before an unsub sent him a head; the place that he left the letter explaining his leaving for Spencer. "Okay, I'm listening."

* * *

**1 Police Plaza, NYC**

He was expecting to get called in and have his ass chewed out for the way he acted during the Dockerty case. He still wasn't sure he'd change his behavior if he had it to do all over again, though. The point was that his mother needed him, and they refused to let him go to her…even just for a little bit. He had felt like a bad son before, but this time, for the first time, Robert Goren wondered if the badge was worth it.

To his surprise, it wasn't a bunch of police brass waiting for him in the conference room. It was four people in suits: two women and two men. The oldest man waved at a chair, clearly indicating that he should sit down.

"Detective Goren," the man began. "I'd like to introduce my colleagues and myself before we get into the reason for why we're here. On my left is Buffy Summers and Cole Turner, and on my right is Minerva McGonagall; my name is Rupert Giles."

"Ladies, gentlemen," Goren responded politely despite his confusion.

"We are headhunters. You meet the main criteria that we are looking for: smart, insightful, honorable, and unless my guess is wrong, unhappy with your current job," Giles stated.

"We've read about what happened over Thanksgiving," Buffy took over. "How you were torn between your duty as a cop and your responsibilities as a son. What we're offering is specialized care for your mother and a job that would allow you to be with her as much as you wanted."

"So not police work," Goren hypothesized. They couldn't mean police work if they were making a promise like that.

Buffy shook her head, "No, security. We hope that it doesn't include any police work, but we want trained individuals just in case we need it."

"Where is this?" Goren asked. He wasn't real tempted yet, but they did manage to catch his attention with the offer of staying with his mother when she needed him.

"A private school in Scotland," Giles answered. "In order to tell you more, we need to know if you are capable of believing in the unusual."

* * *

**Ministry of Magic**

**Auror Training Center**

Buffy stood in front of some of the more recent graduates of the Auror Training Program, the new Head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement at her side. After discussing it with Madame Bones, Willow and the Minister, it was decided that the best way to fill the magical security positions at Hogwarts was to rotate Aurors through every year. Even better was that the Ministry would pay the salaries for these ones, leaving Buffy with only the non-magical staff to worry about.

This group had less than five years on the job, which could be a good thing or a bad thing. They'd have to wait and see which one it was.

Madame Bones made her speech about how pulling this assignment wouldn't negatively affect their promotion schedule, and explained what the job actually entailed. Then she turned it over to Buffy.

"I don't want anyone at my school who can't look past their own bias. It doesn't matter if that bias is for or against Voldemort and his followers. Until they leave Hogwarts, those students are children who deserve to be protected, and if you aren't willing to do that if their father or mother served your enemy, leave now." She paused for over two minutes while staring intently at them, gauging their reactions.

Nobody moved, as expected, but she did notice some looks and remembered who made them so she could cross them off the list. "I'm not taking the Aurors who can't handle 'real work' so if that's your opinion of this situation, get rid of it now. I want the best because the children deserve the best. Step forward if you think you're the best," she said with a challenging smile.

Her smile turned into a smirk when all 50 of them stepped forward. Ya gotta love appealing to someone's pride.

"Line up and I'll interview you one at a time," she ordered, then moved into the head trainer's office where their files were waiting for her.

* * *

Eventually, she got to James Potter. As soon as he sat down, she warned him, "Just because I hired your wife doesn't mean I'll hire you. It bothers me that you and your friends crossed the line in your so-called pranking of Severus Snape. I've read your school files, talked to him and Remus, as well as McGonagall, and I'm telling you right now that if you pulled that crap in my school, you'd be suspended and sent home to your parents.

"So my warning to you is this: if you can't be civil with Snape or other people you don't like, don't bother with the rest of this interview. I don't care if you go out of your way to avoid him while you're off-duty, but if you do happen to run into him, you will treat him with the kind of respect that you want to be treated with, understood?"

"Understood, ma'am," James replied with a hint of shame.

"Furthermore, I expect you to behave like an adult. I know that you aren't that much older than the students there, but they need to see you as an authority figure, and that's going to be hard if you're pulling childish pranks. I know your reputation, but you need to grow past that," Buffy said.

"I would like the chance to prove myself, Headmistress," James requested. He wanted to be with his family, and this was a way for him to get that and not suffer at work.

* * *

When it came time for Sirius Black's interview, Buffy was considerably chillier with him. She told him the same things she said to James, then added, "I know about the Whomping Willow incident. It astonishes me that the Headmaster didn't expel you for that. If it had been me, you would have been. I suppose he was trying to protect Remus' secret, though.

"The fact that you were willing to do that reinforces the fact that even though you chose not to join Voldemort's band of murderers, you still straddle the line between good and evil." She leaned back in her chair, then poured a little gas on the fire with her next words, "Plus it was rather cowardly of you."

"What?" Sirius growled, angry at having his bravery questioned more than anything else.

"If you want to kill somebody, have the guts to kill them yourself. Don't make your supposed best friends into murderers because you can't handle the dirty work. Did you even think about what that would do to Remus when he found out he killed somebody in his werewolf form? I hope you had to grovel for a bunch of years before he forgave you for that."

Buffy sighed, then said, "For you, I'm placing a special caveat on hiring you. If you can apologize sincerely to both Severus and Remus, I will hire you on a probationary basis. Then it will just be a matter of proving that you've grown up since leaving Hogwarts."

* * *

A/N: I happen to like Sirius, but he needed a severe ass-chewing for that incident, even if it comes almost a decade later.

Tomorrow…With only two days left, I suppose I should tackle the Head of Houses, huh?


	30. Ch 30: Aug 30 - Heads of Houses, Part 1

**Chapter 30: August 30, 2014 – Heads of Houses**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: a decade or so post-series for S a few years post-series for VM (AU if necessary).

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Scarecrow and Mrs. King characters belong to Brad Buckner, Eugenie Ross-Leming and CBS. Veronica Mars belongs to Rob Thomas, Stu Segall Productions, Silver Pictures Television, Rob Thomas Productions and Warner Bros. Television. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Teachers' lounge**

"I'm just saying that whatever the reason the school had in the past for separating the children into different Houses, it's doing more harm than good now," Gideon insisted after several of the incumbent teachers complained about Buffy restructuring the housing situation. "Look at the way the Houses are described by those outside of them: Slytherins are supposedly future evil wizards and witches; Hufflepuffs are the outcasts that nobody else wants; Ravenclaws are know-it-all bookworms; and Gryffindors are brash idiots. Do you really want to put those labels on 11 year old children?"

"So what's your plan?" Nicolas Flamel asked Buffy.

"I want to base the Houses on age groups instead." She held up her hand to stop the protests. "First and second will be Hufflepuff…teach the children the value of building friendships; third and fourth will be Ravenclaw…teach them good study habits if they don't already have them; fifth will be Gryffindor…teach them bravery as they look towards their first set of exams; sixth will be Slytherin…instill in them a healthy sense of ambition for their life goals; seventh will be Merlin, a new house…remind them of their heritage as they head into the future."

"Why do you have them set up that way?" Flitwick asked, thinking that he already knew, but he wanted to be certain.

"The younger children need the sense of community more, so keeping them grouped together with another year will lessen their homesickness. Fifth and seventh years are major test years, and should have their own Houses so they won't be distracted by people who aren't under the same pressure they are. Sixth just happens to get their own House by default," Buffy explained.

McGonagall handled the next issue with her question, "What about the House Cup and Quidditch?"

Since he was the one in charge of the new system, Cole described it to them, "The idea is to make the House Cup a monthly award so that every house stands a better chance of winning it at least once during the school year. The points will only accumulate for that month, then start over. The winning house will receive a special reward…like their own trip into Hogsmeade, or a party in the Great Hall. We have a list of items that can be rewarded and how many points they can get, as well as the same thing for punishments. That way we don't have different punishments/rewards for the same behavior."

"What about Quidditch?" Rolanda Hooch asked since it was her area of concern.

"Tryouts will be open to all the students, first years included. There will be two leagues: junior varsity and varsity. The JV teams will be limited to those students in years 1-4. Varsity will primarily be years 5-7, but if a younger student shows enough promise and can get parental permission, they can join as a fourth year. There will still be four teams for each level. In addition, we will be introducing other sports for them to participate in since not everyone likes flying and/or the level of physicality that Quidditch can achieve at times," Jim Ellison said. "Plus there are the months when it isn't practical to play Quidditch because of the weather."

* * *

**Arlington, VA**

"Are you sure we're in the right place?" Xander asked as they studied the house in front of them. "This place is the Norman Rockwell of normalness; how can they deal with the strangeness that is our lives?"

"The spell sent us here," Buffy assured him. "I gotta believe that means they can handle a little stress in their lives." She went up and knocked on the door.

The lady who answered was older, about the age Buffy's mom would have been if she was still alive. She had a warm smile and kind eyes…exactly what Buffy wanted in a House mother. Now all she had to do was convince her.

"Mrs. Stetson? My name is Buffy Summers; my friend, Xander, and I would like to speak with you. We'd like your help, please," Buffy said.

Although it was a woman speaking, something about the situation caused Amanda's mind to go back in time to when she first met her husband, Lee. It was something about the eyes. They were the eyes of a good person.

"Please come in," Amanda offered. They went into the living room where Lee was sitting. He stood up and tensed at the sight of strangers in their home. Even years after retiring, he still worried about past enemies coming after him and Amanda. "This is my husband, Lee. Lee, these people are Buffy Summers and Xander…" she trailed off when she realized she didn't know his last name.

"Harris, ma'am," Xander supplied with an easy grin. He reached forward to shake hands with both of them. With all the time spent around dangerous men and women in Sunnydale and at Hogwarts, both he and Buffy assessed Lee as another dangerous man within seconds. He had the look of a man who'd rip their throats out if he thought they were a threat to him and his wife.

"I run a school in Scotland for talented children," Buffy began after she and Xander accepted Amanda's offer of coffee. "The school is supposed to be one of the best in the world of its kind, but when I took over, I found some serious problems with the staffing. Most of those problems have been addressed, so it's time to focus on the last – and possibly most important – positions: the different house parents. There are five houses at the school and I'd like each house to have a man and a woman to care for the students assigned to that house. When we put our criteria into our search engine, your name came up near the top of that list, Mrs. Stetson…and yours as well, Mr. Stetson."

Lee snorted, "Me…a house parent? I think your search engine is faulty."

"What criteria did you use?" Amanda asked.

"Strong, caring, intelligent, very protective of children…" Buffy paused, then smiled at both of them. "Sound like somebody you're married to?"

"That's Amanda to a 'T'," Lee responded with a goopy look in his eyes as he stared at his wife.

"It could have been written for you, too, Lee," Amanda replied emphatically. She wasn't sure where he got the idea he was bad with children, but he was wrong. One of her greatest regrets was that they never had kids of their own. Still, it didn't stop him from loving her boys as if he were their biological father.

"This school…what's its name?" Lee asked. He still had a few contacts in the business, so he'd be able to find out if this was a legitimate offer or not.

"In order to tell you that, we first have to tell you a big secret," Xander told them. "Hope you know how to handle secrets." He was confused by the smile Lee and Amanda shared.

* * *

**Neptune, CA**

"Did I hear you right? You want me to be in charge of kids?" Veronica asked incredulously.

At the same time, Xander asked, "Are you kidding me?"

"I'm not kidding, and you did hear me right, Ms. Mars," Buffy answered both of them. "You are very intelligent and maybe a bit reckless at times, but usually only with your own life. The house I'm thinking of needs somebody who can demonstrate how to put brains into action. There'll be another house parent to make sure you don't do anything crazy with the kids. Honestly, the only problem I really see is that at the moment, electronics don't work at our school, so cell phones and computers are a no-go. We do have people working to rectify that, however."

"Why wouldn't electronics work in your school? Who builds a school in a place like that?" Veronica demanded to know.

"People who haven't embraced the technological age," Buffy answered.

"The Amish?"

"Nope…witches and wizards," Buffy said, enjoying the look her blunt reply created.

* * *

A/N: I have to admit that I've never watched Veronica Mars, just looked at 'best of' clips, so I'm really sorry if I have her character wrong.

Tomorrow…The rest of the house parents.


	31. Ch 31: Aug 31 - Heads of Houses, Part 2

**Chapter 31: August 31, 2014 – Heads of House**

Challenge: for the livejournal 2014 August Fic-a-Day Challenge.

Timeline: post-series for GG, TCB and HD; pre-series for Leverage.

Warning: Scriptor ex machina is necessary to bring in one pair for sure ('writer' instead of 'god'). Sad event in part one.

**A/N: While the month is technically at an end, I may add a couple chapters to this story if they fit in more with the hiring process than the settling in process which I plan to be the theme for next year's FaD. Some of the new chapters will probably include failed interviews.**

Disclaimer: BtVS/AtS characters belong to Joss Whedon/Mutant Enemy. HP characters belong to JK Rowling. Gilmore Girls characters belong to Amy Sherman-Palladino and the WB. The Cosby Show characters belong to Ed. Weinberger, Michael Leeson, Bill Cosby, Carsey-Werner Productions, Viacom Productions and Carsey-Werner Distribution. Happy Days characters belong to Garry Marshall and Paramount Network Television. Leverage characters belong to John Rogers, Chris Downey, and TNT. I claim no rights to any copyrighted material. Please do not copy or take this story without my permission.

* * *

**Woodbridge, CT**

Buffy looked around at the crowd in the lobby of the inn. This place and every other place for a twenty mile radius were booked solid. They had to drive in from Hartford. She grabbed a passerby and asked, "Is there a fair or convention going on in the area?"

"No, sweetie," the large woman in bright clothing replied. "We've all been evacuated from our homes. It was horrible; they say the town can't be lived in for several years now."

"Oh my god, what happened?" Buffy asked. "If you don't mind talking about it, that is," she added belatedly.

"It's no problem," the woman assured her. "Let's go grab a cup of coffee and sit down. My name's Miss Patty, by the way."

"Buffy Summers."

"Just visiting?"

"Actually here on business; looking for someone. A couple of someones, actually," Buffy answered.

"If they're from the area, I could probably help you find them," Miss Patty offered. "Should we do that now or later?"

Something about Miss Patty told Buffy that the woman wanted to share her great story about her town's tragedy. "After you tell me about your town, please," Buffy said.

The smile she got in return was proof she was right. It wasn't that the woman was happy about her town being devastated by a disaster; more like she had juicy news to share with somebody.

When they were settled, Miss Patty started her story, "It was just like the pickle disaster a few months ago, only this time it was in the heart of town and a more toxic substance. It was a train derailment. At first they didn't notice the leak because was a clear liquid and we were in the middle of a month-long rain."

"The train people didn't realize the car was empty?" Buffy asked in shock.

"They're saying it was a paperwork screw-up," Miss Patty said with a shake of her head. "Somebody listed that car as empty for the trip. It wasn't until they went back to the station of origin that they learned about the contents. Apparently it was something that could cause erratic behavior through prolonged exposure." She laughed, then explained, "It took us over a month to realize because most of our community is fairly colorful."

Miss Patty sobered and said, "Then the next symptom struck. People started to get sick. We were fortunate that the doctors figured it out before anyone died. But the damage was done to the land and it will take years for it to be cleaned up to the point where we can go back."

"I'm sorry about your town, but you just have to remember that the important thing is everyone's safe now," Buffy tried to comfort her.

"Yes, but we won't be a community anymore. People have already started to move to other places with the settlement money we got from the train company and the company the chemicals came from. I'll even miss Taylor," Miss Patty said with a wry chuckle.

They sat in silence for several minutes before Miss Patty remembered Buffy's mission. "So who were you looking for?"

"Lorelai Gilmore and Luke Danes. Do you know either of them?"

"I know both of them, sweetheart," Miss Patty answered with a happy smile. "They are our town's super-couple. We've been pulling for years for them to realize they're right for each other. There were a couple serious bumps in their road, but they finally seem to be working things out. I hope whatever you want with them won't jeopardize that." Her voice turned oddly menacing.

"Not at all," Buffy assured her. "I want to offer them both jobs at my school; that's all."

"Okay…they're at the next inn over towards Woodbury – the Fall Colors Inn. I'll walk you over and introduce you," she offered.

"Thanks, I just need to grab my colleague and then we can go." Buffy went, found Cole and brought him back.

She was amused at the slightly panicked look on Cole's face when Miss Patty purred – literally purred – and latched onto his arm.

"Lucky you for being able to look at this dark hunk of man all day," Miss Patty cooed.

Buffy couldn't stop her giggle. "He does make for a nice distraction sometimes," she admitted, much to Cole's embarrassment. He vowed to get even with Buffy later.

The visit with Lorelai and Luke went far easier than expected. Without Stars Hollow to tie them to the area – and both their daughters were not in their day-to-day lives anymore – they were willing to try something new. Well, mostly it was Lorelai willing to try something new and Luke was grudgingly dragged along, only on the condition that if it didn't work out, their expenses to move back to the States would be covered by the school.

* * *

**Brooklyn Heights, NY**

There was something magical about the house where the Cosby family lived. Literally magical; it caused a physical reaction in both Buffy and Cole as they approached it. For Buffy, it was like being in her mother and father's embrace again, like when she was a child. For Cole, the human half of him craved the feeling while his demon side was repulsed by it.

"I can do this by myself," Buffy offered.

Even though Belthazor wanted to leave, Cole Turner wanted to stay more, so Cole shook his head. "No, it's a good pain. I enjoy it more than it hurts me," he explained.

"Alright, but I'll try to make it quick…for both our sakes'. It can't be right to feel a house, even a good feeling," Buffy remarked as she rang the doorbell. It gave a bizarre, strangled kind of tone…like the battery was dying. That was strange.

From inside they could hear a woman yelling, "Cliff! I thought you said you fixed that thing!" Seconds later, the door opened and an attractive, middle-aged woman greeted them. "Hello. Can I help you?"

"Professor Michaels sent us here," Buffy said. Michaels was a Muggle-born who lived in New York and straddled the magical and non-magical worlds. After graduating magical school, she went on to graduate from Hillman College a few years after Cliff Huxtable. Both were active alumni of the college and talked on a fairly regular basis.

Claire smiled brightly at the name. "How is Janine?"

"She looked very happy with her retirement when we visited her," Buffy answered. "She also mentioned that you and your husband are feeling a little restless. Thought maybe you'd like a new challenge in your lives now that your house is finally empty."

"After all of Cliff's moaning and groaning about getting the kids to leave and stay gone, you'd think he would be happy that it's finally happened," Claire said with a rueful grin. "Now he just sighs and says stuff like how it's too quiet around here. And the worst thing about it is he's right."

Buffy turned and smiled at Cole; this was good news. "So you think maybe you and he would like to hear the noise of teenagers again? Coming to you for advice and direction?"

"What are you talking about?" Claire asked. They were getting to be too old to become foster parents.

"I'm talking about being dorm parents at a boarding school," Buffy explained. "The houses range from 11-18 years old. What we want are people who can act in their best interests when it comes to any conflicts with other students or with the staff. Teach them to make responsible decisions when they leave school. Professor Michaels said you excelled at that."

Claire snorted. "Obviously she hasn't heard about some of the crazy things our children have done."

"But they're not criminals, are they? And for the most part, they're independent?" Buffy persisted.

"For the most part," Claire agreed. Was she willing to go through parenthood again – even if it was just in a substitute setting? "Where is your school located?"

"Scotland," Buffy replied hopefully.

* * *

**Colorado Springs, CO**

"Walter, do you know why we're here?" Buffy asked her assistant.

He shook his head. "All I know is that General Hammond said there was an incident in the mountain that we would be better equipped to deal with than them."

"So I'm guessing demons, then," Buffy murmured to herself as they cleared the guard station.

Daniel met them at the elevators and escorted them to the conference room. Because of the security issue, only Walter and Buffy were allowed to make this trip. Cole was waiting back at the hotel so their recruiting trip could continue.

"Walter!" Jack exclaimed as they entered the room. "We sure miss you around here! How's academic life treating you?"

Walter appeared nonplussed by his welcome, but brushed it off to Jack's unusual personality. "Just fine, sir. Ms. Summers isn't nearly as demanding as some bosses I've had," he replied with a tiny smirk.

"Was that a joke at my expense?!" Jack chuckled. "Your life must be good if you've loosened up enough to make fun of me."

"I've always made fun of you, sir," Walter admitted cheekily, "…just not to your face."

"Don't feel bad, General, he doesn't make fun of me to my face either," Buffy said before tackling the matter at hand, "So what's the situation that we'd supposedly be better at handling? Got baddies that need slaying?"

"We have Goa'uld that need slaying, but that's not the problem. A few days ago, the wormhole opened. We couldn't shut the iris before two people came through," Daniel explained.

"Tollan?" Walter guessed.

"Nope!" Jack answered. "Tau'ri. Specifically Tau'ri from the 1950s."

Walter leaned forward in confusion. "I'm sorry, sir. Are you saying they're from our past?"

"Milwaukee, Wisconsin to be exact," Jack confirmed.

"Whoa…freaky," Buffy remarked. "I'm guessing you can't send them back?"

Sam shook her head. "They're not even sure how they ended up here," she said.

"Are you sure sending them to our community is wise? It'll be a rather big culture shock for them," Buffy asked carefully. She knew that Jack was cleared to know about magic, but she wasn't sure about everyone else in the room.

"Not that much more than if we set them loose in modern Milwaukee," Jack retorted.

"I don't know…" Buffy hedged. "It still seems rather risky. Maybe if we ease them into things?"

"What's your community like that they'd need to be eased into it more than modern America?" Daniel inquired with his usual curiosity.

"Sorry, it's classified."

"I'm working on getting at least SG1 cleared," Jack interjected. "Do you want to meet them now?" he asked Buffy and Walter. After they nodded, he gestured towards one of the guards, who left the room and came back with a middle-aged couple.

They were obviously confused and off-kilter from recent events, but their faces showed decades of smiling and laughing on them.

"Howard and Marion Cunningham, I'd like you to meet Buffy Summers and Walter Harriman. Guys, these are the Cunninghams," Jack said. "Buffy has a place that you can learn about what life is like now without being overwhelmed by all the changes."

"They'd just be overwhelmed by other stuff instead," Buffy muttered softly. Louder, she asked, "You don't have a heart condition or anything, do you?"

"No…why?" Howard asked.

"There'll be some surprises," Buffy replied. "Just thought you should know."

"Well, it's hard to think of anything more shocking than what we've seen on the television," Marion complained. "Some of those clothes don't even look like clothes you'd wear _under_ your clothes!"

"You'll be happy to know that people dress far more conservatively where we are," Walter said.

"What do you think, dear?" Marion asked her husband.

Howard looked at Jack, then at Buffy. "I'm not sure we really have a choice, Marion…at least not at first. We'd stick out like sore thumbs if we tried to mingle into today's world. Maybe we wouldn't stick out as much with Miss Summer's group."

"Oh, you'd stick out," Buffy interjected, "But in some ways, you actually might fit in better than I do."

* * *

**Los Angeles, CA**

"I don't know, Cole…he has a lot of anger and grief left to work through," Buffy commented as they watched their latest 'search result'.

Nathan Ford was storming out of the headquarters of his now-former employers, I.Y.S. and practically ripped the door handle off his car as he got in. Then he sat there for several minutes pounding on the steering wheel.

"Do you blame him?" Cole asked rhetorically. "He's one of their top investigators and they reward him by denying payment on medical treatments for his son, which led to his son's death. They're lucky. If it were me, this building wouldn't still be standing, demon powers or not."

"Touché," Buffy replied. "And losing his wife in the aftermath couldn't have helped things either. Still…"

"The spell must have considered him for a reason," Cole reminded her. "Maybe it's so you can save another person, like you did with me."

"You're just gonna keep throwing that in my face every time I hesitate on somebody, aren't you?" she asked with a grimace.

"Why not? It works so well at bringing you around," he answered with a smirk. "I think offering him a new purpose in life will lessen his anger considerably."

"Okay, but I reserve the right to say 'I told you so' if he doesn't work out."

* * *

**Hogwarts**

**End of August**

"So have you made your final decisions about the Heads of Houses?" Minerva asked. "Classes are starting in less than a week," she reminded Buffy unnecessarily.

"Given that the transitions have been successful – for the most part – I think so. I wanted to keep couples together, but some just worked better in different houses to promote the kind of qualities we want.

"To care for the Hufflepuff students, I picked Amanda Stetson and Luke Danes; they embodied active friendship rather than blind loyalty. Lee Stetson and Lorelai Gilmore, on the other hand, can teach the Ravenclaw students about putting knowledge into practical use instead of just learning for learning's sake.

"The Gryffindors need a gentle, yet strong guiding hand to keep them from running off half-cocked. The Cunninghams feel like they can handle the more rebellious personalities while also nurturing the introverted ones as well. Both of my choices for Slytherin are a risk, but one I feel better with now than I did when I brought them here last spring. They can teach that ambition doesn't have to come at the cost of somebody else."

"Who?" Minerva asked nervously.

"Nathan Ford and Veronica Mars," Buffy said. "That leaves the hardest house left. The ones in charge of those last steps from childhood into adulthood. I think anyone that has spent any time with them knows who is perfect to be in charge of Merlin House."

"The Huxtables," most of the staff in the room said in unison. Even if it wasn't a matter of elimination, Cliff and Claire would be almost everyone's choice for guiding the oldest students into adulthood.

* * *

A/N: Professor Michaels is an OC that I made up to serve as a bridge between the people.

Now we are at the end. Like I said above, I'll probably be adding some more successful and failed interviews to cover the positions I missed earlier. Plus I'd like to add a side story to handle the new rules/guidelines of Hogwarts. After I post the first chapter, I'll be asking for suggestions of things you'd like to see, so start thinking. Thanks for being such awesome readers/reviewers this month. You've made it a pleasure to write this challenge.


	32. Appendix Page

Never thought I'd have an index page (technically this is an appendix, though), but I sort of wanted to give readers a list of the positons and who has them.

These are the courses/positions I remember from the books:

1. Headmaster - Buffy Summers (Buffy the Vampire Slayer (BtVS))

2. Deputy - Cole Turner (Charmed (C))

3. Healer - Madame Pomfrey (Harry Potter (HP)); Assistants: Greg Focker (Meet the Parents) & Peter Petrelli (Heroes)

4. Librarian - Madame Pince (HP); Assistant: Blair Sandburg (The Sentinel (TS))

5. Heads of House, Gryffindor - Mr. and Mrs. Cunningham (Happy Days)

6. Heads of House, Hufflepuff - Luke Danes (Gilmore Girls (GG)) and Amanda Stetson - previously King (Scarecrow and Mrs. King (S&MK))

7. Heads of House, Ravenclaw - Lee Stetson (S&MK) and Lorelai Gilmore (GG)

8. Heads of House, Slytherin - Nate Ford (Leverage (L)) and Veronica Mars (Veronica Mars)

9. Arithmancy - To Be Determined (TBD)

10. Astronomy - Raj Koothrappali (The Big Bang Theory (TBBT)); part-time Assistant: Jon O'Neill (Stargate SG1 (SG1))

11. Charms - Filius Flitwick (HP); Assistant Lily Potter (HP)

12. Care of Magical Creatures - Fester Addams (The Addams Family (TAF)); Assistant: Eliza Thornberry (The Wild Thornberrys)

13. Magical Protections - Agatha Harkness (Fantastic Four); Assistant: Tara Maclay (BtVS)

14. Divination - Ava Nicolae (C); Assistant (sort of): Drusilla (BtVS)

15. Herbology - Madame Sprout (HP); Assistant: Morticia Addams (TAF)

16. History/History of Magic - Adam Pierson aka Methos (Highlander); Assistant: Remus Lupin (HP)

17. Muggle Studies - Jarod (The Pretender); Assistant: Samantha Stevens (Bewitched)

18. Potions - Zelda Spellman (Sabrina the Teenage Witch); Assistant: TBD

19. Runes - Indiana Jones (Indiana Jones movie franchise); Assistant: Bathsheda Babbling (HP); Guest speaker: Lara Croft (Lara Croft movie franchise)

20. Transfiguration - Minerva McGonagall (HP); Assistant (?): Balthazar Blake (The Sorcerer's Apprentice)

(I know there was a Caretaker, but see the Muggle security positions for that one)

These are the new courses/positions that I thought would be good to incorporate:

21. Counselors - Dr. Alfred Bellows (I Dream of Jeannie) & Dr. Marlena Evans (-Black) (Days of Our Lives; Assistant: Lorne aka The Host (Angel the Series)

22. Security - Rubeus Hagrid (HP) & Worf (Star Trek: DS9 timeline) + security personnel

23. Administrative Assistant - Walter Harriman (SG1)

24. Potionmaster (only responsible for making potions, unless a substitute is needed for class) - Severus Snape (HP); Apprentice: Dawn Summers (BtVS)

25. Wizarding Studies - Augusta Longbottom (HP); Assistant: Andromeda Tonks (HP)

26. Music - Glenn Holland (Mr. Holland's Opus); Assistant: Daniel 'Oz' Osbourne (BtVS)

27. English - John Keating (Dead Poet's Society); Assistant: Chloe Sullivan (Smallville)

28. Foreign Languages - Jon O'Neill (Latin) & Jason Bourne (multiple languages) (The Bourne Trilogy)

29. Math - Larry Fleinhardt (Numb3rs); Assistant: TBD

30. Physical Education - Jim Ellison (TS); Assistant: TBD

31. Science - Doctor Emmett Brown (Back to the Future), Beast (X-Men), Angus MacGyver (MacGyver), Ms. Frizzle (Magic School Bus), Mr. Wizard aka Nicolas Flamel (Watch Mr. Wizard), Dr. Arthur Jefferies (TBBT); Guest Lecturers: Mythbusters

Unplanned Positions:  
** School Treasurer - Anya Jenkins-Harris (BtVS)  
** Heads of House, Merlin - Cliff and Claire Huxtable (The Cosby Show)  
** Estate Planning - Gomez Addams (TAF)  
** Ethics - Agatha Harkness  
** Home Ec - Eliot Spencer (L) & Edna Garrett (The Facts of Life)  
** Commissary - Jackson Gibbs (NCIS)  
** Security personnel - Leroy Jethro Gibbs (NCIS), Jason Gideon (Criminal Minds), Robert Goren (Law & Order: Criminal Intent), various Aurors, including James Potter and Sirius Black (HP)

If I have missed any courses, please drop me a line. Also feel free to nominate people for the various slots. All but like six of the jobs I'd like to have two people (preferably one HP character and one non-HP character). If you're familiar with my writing, you probably know the fandoms I feel most comfortable working with, so keep that in mind when you make your suggestions.


End file.
